Publication date: 1 May 2016
Source:Geoderma, Volume 269
Author(s): S. Wahlhütter, C.R. Vogl, H. Eberhart
Studies of farming symbols in modern agriculture indicate that soils and agricultural land are important factors when it comes to the construction of farmers' identities. This article uses Bourdieu's framework of habitus along with his theory of capital to discuss the importance of soils in this construction process of farmers' identities. A range of methods was used in this study involving qualitative and quantitative interviews with 124 farmers in the Austrian province of Burgenland. In the Burgenland, soil and landscapes are loaded with meaning and therefore never neutral: always implying a wide range of moral concepts of what is “good” or “bad” in the context of soil and land. Farmers “read” soils and related management practices as indication of farming skills and the farmers' interpretation always depends on farmers' aesthetic perception of the world and thus on the farmers' habitus and cultural capital. Farmers distinguish themselves from other farmers, groups or areas of work relating to soil quality aspects or soil management strategies of others. This reciprocal construction of boundaries locates the standing of individual farmers within a community. The importance of the relation between farmers and their soils for the construction of farming identity is especially important for organic farmers.
Source:Geoderma, Volume 269
Author(s): S. Wahlhütter, C.R. Vogl, H. Eberhart