Biology and Beyond

The Science of “Back to Nature” Farming in the United States

Bibliographic Data

ID8375259
AuthorsMrill Ingram (0000-0002-4155-4523, University of Wisconsin–Madison, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume97
Issue2
Pages298-312
Publication date2007-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnals of the Association of American Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0004-5608 • E-ISSN: 1467-8306
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-8306.2007.00537.x
OpenAlexW2018982237
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited52

Organic farming, biodynamic farming, and other alternative approaches to agriculture are often described in spatial terms such as “close to,” “going back to,” and “following” nature, and correspondingly represent a production process that is ineluctably local, farmer-led, and relies on minimal external inputs, especially in terms of science and technology. In contrast to this representation, however, this article argues that going back to nature is, and has been, a scientific process. An examination of the development of several key ideas in alternative agriculture reveals the participation of scientists and the pursuit of scientific research resulting in a diverse range of society-nature relationships and agricultural technologies. By applying Bruno Latour's circulatory model of scientific work to the endeavors of people involved in U.S. alternative agriculture, I show how networks of people involved in alternative agriculture, like scientific disciplines, have produced “immutable mobiles,” or ideas that travel across time and space, and have made control of knowledge as much a focus as control of crop production. This investigation seeks to contribute to current analyses of the rise of the organic agriculture movement and more broadly to our understanding of the dynamics of alternative groups and the generation of alternative ideas. Latour's model proves effective for analyzing the mechanisms through which new knowledge is generated, even outside conventional academic disciplines. Deploying this model within a context of power, particularly Foucault's ideas about discourse, is necessary to evaluate why some ideas prove more successful than others

Agriculture · Biology · Context (archaeology) · Economics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Geography · Organic farming · Political science · Politics · Process (computing) · Production (economics) · Representation (politics) · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of scientific knowledge · Space (punctuation) · Work (physics) · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Computer Science · Ecology · Engineering · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Organic Food and Agriculture · Philosophy

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