Browsing by Subject "farming"
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(2024)Climate change is challenging farmers around the world, undermining food security and livelihoods. Smallholder farmers are encountering changing environmental conditions and extreme weather events as a significant negative impact on their livelihoods and food security when the resources needed to adapt are not sufficiently available. Previous studies show that the impacts of climate change are currently most noticeable in the developing countries of the Global South, where local agriculture and smallholder farming still remain an important part of people's livelihoods and local food security. This study focused on the experiences and outcomes of the Building Resilience -tool I (BR-I) for smallholder farmers in 5 different African countries between 2021 and 2022. Through the tool, farmers assessed the impacts of climate change on their livelihoods and their own capacities and needs to adapt to the challenges caused by climate change. The data used in this study consisted of reports filled in when using the tool collecting farmers' responses, and separate feedback on their experiences of using the tool. The results showed that climate change reduced the predictability of environmental conditions and increased the irregularity of the growing seasons. Drought, floods, and storms were the main threats to crops, often leading to yield losses or poor crop quality. Other losses included livelihood-related losses of material assets, for example during floods and storms. Indirect negative impacts of climate change included loss of farmers' livelihoods, increased poverty and reduced local food security and weaker nutritional quality of food. To adapt to climate change impacts, farmers often used more sustainable and higher quality crop varieties and, for example, built more efficient irrigation systems. However, the results showed that to adapt to climate change, farmers need more material and financial resources and research-based knowledge to improve their livelihood activities.
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(2016)The EC regulations for organic farming (OF), No. 834/2007 and 889/2008, apply in all EU countries but still, different rules are being implemented. Every country in the EU has its own certification bodies and certification systems, and the interpretation of the EC regulations for organic farming is done nationally. The purpose of this research is to fill a gap in the understanding how rules of organic farming differ between three countries in Europe: Finland, Sweden and Austria. In particular, this study aims to examine the role of the national interpretations of the EC regulations for OF at different stages in the food supply chain. The main interest lies in why these differences in interpretation occur, and what interpretations are made at what stage in the system. The methods chosen for answering the research questions is a literature review, a survey with qualitative interviews for gathering relevant topics from the field and finally a comparison of the EC regulations for OF and the national legislations and guidelines in Finland, Sweden and Austria for these topics. This study shows that there are many topics in OF where the EC regulations for OF leave room for variable interpretations and hence, it is unclear to the implementing authorities in the member states how to interpret these. The most significant result is that some of the differences in interpretation lead to the organic farmers being unequal across the countries. Even for statements with clear reasoning and precise instructions there can be significant differences in interpretation between the countries. Based on the results of this research I can state that the farmers in OF would benefit from a more harmonized landscape of OF rules on EU-level, as this would lower the inequality between farmers in OF in the different countries. One mean of doing this would be to reduce the number of statements of qualitative character.
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(2018)The concept of ecological management can be seen tackling the relationship of agriculture and environment, not only from the perspective of limiting the negative effects of farming practices, but also promoting positive actions. This notion of managing and maintaining, rather than leaving alone, is currently in the core of biodiversity promotion in agricultural landscapes in Europe. The focus of this thesis are the perceptions Finnish agri-environmental actors have regarding ecological management innovation stemming from the grassroots. In this thesis I assess how i) Finnish agri-environmental actors perceive grassroots innovation, ii) weigh its barriers and enabling factors, as well as iii) envision further needs regarding these innovations. The study is based on a mixed-methods approach using both qualitative and quantitative data; a questionnaire and two focus group discussions conducted during a two-day seminar “Managing Nature - working together” 29.11.-30.11.2016 in Turku. The study was conducted in co-operation with the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), University of Helsinki Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry and a Horizon2020 project HNV-Link. I approached the research questions using an iterative approach, and my analysis is guided by Grounded Theory in constant comparative analysis and generating theory. The results indicate that Finnish agricultural actors acknowledge the heterogeneous nature of grassroots actors in agricultural areas. However, several common attributes are linked to innovation stemming from the grassroots such as practical, economic and local. Currently bureaucracy, lack of cooperation and the changes and challenges in the socio-cultural environment of grassroots hinder ecological management grassroots innovation. Finnish agri-environmental actors acknowledge that the challenges biodiversity in agricultural areas face, are of such magnitude that the need is rather to expand, not narrow down the actor-base for innovation.
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(2022)Carbon neutral agriculture plays a key role in climate change mitigation. However, Finnish farmers are struggling with the impacts of climate change and the profitability crisis. This study aims at providing market insight on potential sources of income for Finnish farmers in carbon neutral agriculture by 2030. However, this thesis does not focus on the question whether carbon neutral agriculture is achievable. The role of policy instruments is also investigated to determine whether they facilitate or prevent changes. The thesis is commissioned by Envitecpolis Oy. Six experts from the agriculture field were interviewed and the data were analysed with theory-driven content analysis. The analysis is based on the future signals sense-making framework (FSSF) that focuses on the weak signals, drivers and trends found in the data. Each theme includes two categories; the nonlinear and linear paths of change. In addition, policy instruments were divided into promoters and disrupters of change. The relevant weak signals identified are innovations, the formation of premium markets, the adoption of paludiculture, novel and existing market mechanisms for carbon neutral practices, the substitution of materials and energy in production, digitalization, the increasing requirements for producers by food industry and by consumers and lastly, strengthened cooperation between actors in agriculture. The drivers of change, such as climate change, knowledge and advances in technology, significantly influence the adoption of these weak signals. However, various trends function as blockers of change whilst some trends are inevitable large change processes. In light of the results, weak signals of potential sources of income are not likely to become mainstream by 2030. However, existing or emerging issues may play a key role in providing additional income for farmers. National agriculture policy and the EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) are complex schemes that are gradually emphasizing climate issues. However, these policies fail to incentivize farmers to adopt practices for carbon neutral agriculture. Recommendations for future research include the cost-effectiveness of climate change mitigation measures and a follow-up on the sources of income for farmers in 2030.
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