This is a peer-reviewed, post-print (nal draft post-refereeing) version of the following published
document and is licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 license:
Curry, Nigel R and Kirwan, James R ORCID: 0000-0002-4626-
9940 (2014) The Role of Tacit Knowledge in Developing
Networks for Sustainable Agriculture. Sociologia Ruralis, 54
(3). pp. 341-361. doi:10.1111/soru.12048
O$cial URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/soru.12048
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/soru.12048
EPrint URI: https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/1192
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This is a peer-reviewed, post-print (final draft post-refereeing) version of the following
published document:
Curry, Nigel and Kirwan, James R (2014) The Role of
Tacit Knowledge in Developing Networks for
Sustainable Agriculture. Sociologia Ruralis, 54 (3),
341-361.
Published in Sociologia Ruralis, and available online at:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soru.12048/abstract;jsessionid=2D0BB830
04A30CF302221968A96898D7.f01t02
We recommend you cite the published (post-print) version.
The URL for the published version is http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/soru.12048
Disclaimer
The University of Gloucestershire has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title
in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material.
The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation or warranties of commercial
utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in
respect of any material deposited.
The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation that the use of the materials will
not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights.
The University of Gloucestershire accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual
property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view
pending investigation in the event of an allegation of any such infringement.
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR TEXT.
1
The role of tacit knowledge in developing networks for sustainable agriculture
Abstract
Whilst objectivist epistemologies have been dominant in productivist agriculture, the
local, cultural and environmental contexts of sustainable agriculture are more fully
informed by constructivist epistemologies. Within constructivism, tacit knowledge – an
intuitive knowledge that cannot be formalised – is explored empirically. Six types of tacit
knowledge were identified as a result of working closely with a sustainable food network:
the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership. Customs cohere around integrating food with
other sustainable activity; developing a complex unregulated organisation requires
savoire faire. The unique character of Brighton has developed an operational folklore,
and network identity is important, particularly in relation to conventional agriculture and
to the city as a whole. A confidence in people’s roles has helped define network
development and using different discourses, communicating the network in diverse
contexts, is important for understanding the network. All these tacit knowledge elements
have a strong influence over the network but have to be assimilated rather than learned.
1. Introduction
Much has been written from a social-scientific perspective about the content of the
knowledge required for the development of sustainable agriculture (Hendrix et al, 1992,
Lichtfouse et al, 2009, Hanayani and Prawito, 2011) and about the appropriate systems
of learning required for knowledge transfer in such development (Pretty, 1994, Röling
and Wagemakers, 1998Rather less attention has been paid to the different forms of
knowledge that have significance for the development of sustainable agriculture. Morgan
and Murdoch (2000) note that the dominance of objectivist knowledge in ‘conventional’
agriculture tends to replace ‘local’ knowledge with ‘expert’ knowledge and underplays
social, economic and cultural values. It is argued in this paper that approaching
2
sustainable agriculture through a constructivist knowledge lens allows a range of these
values within ‘sustainable’ agriculture to be more clearly identified thus improving an
understanding of the distinctive nature of sustainable agriculture. Within this
constructivist knowledge domain, the paper examines the nature of tacit knowledge
because it is claimed to offer the potential to embrace both values (Merton, 1973) and
belief systems (Polanyi (1946) explicitly, and is considered to provide a component of
‘local’ knowledge (Morgan and Murdoch, 2000). Certainly these claims for tacit
knowledge merit its examination to see if it can help make sense of some of the claimed
precepts of sustainable agriculture. This examination is developed empirically through an
English case study.
In doing this, the paper is structured in the following way. Firstly, a characterisation of
sustainable agriculture is offered as a context for forms of knowledge likely to be
important in its development. Some salient strands of objectivist and constructivist
epistemologies are then reviewed. Here, it is argued that the precepts of the objectivist
epistemology have been dominant in productivist agriculture, as ‘science’ has sought to
increase food outputs for a hungry world. But for sustainable agriculture, constructivist
epistemologies, particularly in relation to local, social, cultural and environmental
contexts, have an important role.
One manifestation of constructivist epistemology is argued to be tacit knowledge, and
this is developed for empirical study. Using the notions of tacit knowledge asserted
particularly by Polanyi (1966) and developed by Gerholm (1990), six forms are
postulated: customs; savoir faire, folklore, identity, roles and discourse. These are
evaluated in the context of negotiating sustainable agriculture values in the development
of a sustainable food strategy. Conclusions are then drawn about the relative importance
of different forms of knowledge in the development of sustainable agriculture in practice,
identified in the research.
3
The case study used is from a European Framework VII programme, designed to identify
barriers and catalysts to the development of learning and innovation networks for
sustainable agriculture.
1
Seventeen case studies of sustainable agriculture networks
were chosen across eight European countries. They were chosen because they operated
largely outside mainstream knowledge provision in agriculture and had identifiable
‘grassroots’ origins. They were termed LINSAs – Learning and Innovation Networks for
Sustainable Agriculture. The case study reported here is that of the development of the
Brighton and Hove Food Strategy (Brighton and Hove Food Partnership (BHFP), 2012)
which involved the identification and interplay of a large number of stakeholders in
various networks concerned with all elements of sustainable food production and
consumption in the City.
A participatory methodology has been deployed, which advocates the involvement of
research stakeholders in the majority, if not the entirety, of the research process (Allen-
Collinson et al, 2005). Thus, specific research methods for collecting data were co-
designed by the research team and the BHFP in partnership and were played out over a
period of two years. Commonly termed research ‘co-production’, such an approach
provides experiential expertise that outside ‘experts’ on their own might not perceive
(Collins and Evans, 2007). As an ‘interpretivist’ approach (Evans et al, 2000) it commits
the researchers to understanding the social world from the perspective of those social
actors who inhabit it. It also allows participant-stakeholders’ preferences and needs to
inform the research process, leading to what Ostrom (1996) considers are potentially
better and more achievable outcomes.
Within this frame, research methods embraced interactive learning (a two-way
discursive flow of information) which included world cafes, workshops, focus groups and
1
The project, entitled Support for Learning and Innovation Networks in Sustainable Agriculture (SOLINSA) was
funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission and ran between February 2011
and January 2014.