NDLI: Sustainable agriculture issues explained by differentiation and structural coupling using social systems analysis

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Noe, Egon Alrøe, Hugo F.
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	In spite of many initiatives to increase sustainability, agriculture moves in the opposite direction with increased pesticide impacts and decreased nature quality. Here, we propose that this issue is not mainly due to lack of agronomic knowledge, but due to the lack of knowledge on social processes of specialization and differentiation. Here, we review the challenge of agriculture and sustainable development based on Niklas Luhmann theory of social systems. We focus on the concepts of differentiation and structural couplings. We use two forms of analysis, discursive differentiation and organizational differentiation, which mutually support each other. First, we analyze discourse categories, named ‘semantics’ in the social systems theory, such as ‘environmental problems’ and ‘food safety’. We then look at how these discourses are related to the discourse of sustainability. Secondly, we describe different forms of organizational differentiation within agriculture and food, e.g., in the pig production chain. Here, we show how sustainability problems can be seen as an unavoidable consequence of the ‘decouplings’ that follow these differentiation and specialization processes. Finally, using the insights from social systems theory, we discuss how these sustainability problems might be mitigated by the following three forms of new structural couplings: (1) functional couplings of organizations to generalized semantic perspectives on e.g., environment and nature, which can reintroduce the sensibility of agri-food systems to their surroundings, (2) structural couplings between organizations that can handle other dimensions than price and quantity, including couplings mediated by labels and network couplings such as partnerships that provide options for co-evolution, and (3) second order couplings to polyocular semantics such as the sustainability semantic; that is, semantics that have their strength and challenge in the fact that they are multiperspectival and must remain indeterminate. Social systems analysis is a novel and strong tool to analyze social differentiation processes in agriculture. Social systems analysis provides researchers, farmers, and companies new ways to understand the sustainability problems that these differentiation processes produce.
Starting Page	133
Ending Page	144
Page Count	12
File Format	PDF
ISSN	17740746
Journal	Agronomy for Sustainable Development
Volume Number	35
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	17730155
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Paris
Publisher Date	2014-08-01
Publisher Institution	Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
Publisher Place	Paris
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Social systems Differentiation Structural coupling Agriculture and food Sustainable development Agriculture Soil Science & Conservation Sustainable Development
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Environmental Engineering Agronomy and Crop Science

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Sustainable agriculture issues explained by differentiation and structural coupling using social systems analysis

Nitrogen, sustainable agriculture and food security. A review

Agronomy for sustainable agriculture. A review

Transforum system innovation towards sustainable food. A review

Renewable energy for sustainable agriculture

Laws of sustainable soil management

Soils and food sufficiency. A review

Discriminating cropping systems and agro-environmental measures by remote sensing

Agroecological engineering

Sustainable agriculture issues explained by differentiation and structural coupling using social systems analysis

Similar Documents

Sustainable agriculture issues explained by differentiation and structural coupling using social systems analysis

Nitrogen, sustainable agriculture and food security. A review

Agronomy for sustainable agriculture. A review

Transforum system innovation towards sustainable food. A review

Renewable energy for sustainable agriculture

Laws of sustainable soil management

Soils and food sufficiency. A review

Discriminating cropping systems and agro-environmental measures by remote sensing

Agroecological engineering

Sustainable agriculture issues explained by differentiation and structural coupling using social systems analysis