Organic Conversion - Converting Farmers' Motivations and Experiences
Author
Term
4. term
Publication year
2017
Submitted on
2017-06-02
Pages
78
Abstract
This Master’s thesis investigates converting farmers’ motivations behind and experiences with organic conversion. The interest in the subject was founded in the rapid increase and interest in organic conversion among farmers during recent years. The relevance is resting on that there are no newer research available on the subject. Therefore, semi-structured interviews with five converting farmers on Mid and North Zealand were carried out in March and April, 2017. Before doing the interviews, a review of previous studies was done, to which the new findings are analytically compared by using a modified Socio Ecological Model. Factors such as economy, the organic mind-set, culture and values, the social accept of organic production from the surroundings, administrative issues and rules, and the inspections were some of the main themes found to have an influence on the farmers’ choice of and experiences with organic farming. The findings from the new study with the five farmers represents only a small geographical area of Denmark, and generalizing conclusions must therefore be done with caution. However, they are evaluated applicable to other areas with similar demographic structures. Simultaneously, they are assessed a valuable foundation of subsequent research with focus on for instance the same influential factors in other geographical areas, or with an in depth focus on one or two of the themes detected, e.g. the social accept of organic production.
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