The Department of Global Development Studies is thrilled to announce our newest PhD, Dr. Janette Haase, who defended her thesis this past summer.
Janette completed her thesis, "If You Build It, They Will Come - Farming, Soil Health, and Agricultural Sustainability," under the supervision of Dr. Marcus Taylor.
Abstract: The emerging science of soil health challenges us to radically rethink our ideas about agricultural principles and practices. Conventional practices that focus on chemical and physical inputs to manage soil health have woefully disregarded fundamental land stewardship principles and have resulted in a crisis of soil health that is increasingly being recognized as threatening our very food systems. A biological approach to soil health that focuses on creating a biodiverse farm ecosystem and a healthy soil microbiome necessitates the incorporation of land stewardship practices that were abandoned some 200 years ago with the advent of industrial food production.
These practices form the scientific basis for agroecology and regenerative agriculture and while they are increasingly discussed in the academic literature and in a multitude of institutional reports, the theory is seldom connected to the actual practical, social and economic parameters governing farming today.
In response, this thesis seeks to understand the actual practices, challenges, supports and constraints that farmers in southern Ontario experience in their commitment to land stewardship and soil health practices. It also seeks to understand the on-farm benefits of soil health practices and the value systems that underly farmer decisions to engage with the science. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 farmers - these included market gardeners and seed producers, livestock producers and cash crop farmers. Additional interviews with several Ontario-based NGO representatives supplemented the interview data.
Key findings from the research focus on the economic and infrastructure constraints to implementing soil health practices as well as significant difficulties in integrating science with practice. Similarly, dominant production systems and patterns of consumption were identified as being in direct opposition to the long-term restoration and maintenance of soil health. Despite these difficulties, farmer participants’ observations of the on-farm benefits as well as their commitment to and enthusiasm for land stewardship was unanimous. Soil health was identified as fundamental to the long-term sustainability of farming, with participants noting significant changes in their approach to farming as they shifted from notions of managing their production to a more reciprocal relationship in which the facilitation of soil health became central.
Congratulations, Janette!