‘Good Farmer’ Values and How They Affect the Path to a Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract: Conventional agriculture is unsustainable on several levels and therefore a change has to take place. This study focuses on the central ’good farmer’ values of conventional farmers and how these values affect the path to a sustainable agriculture. An analysis of ’good farmer’ values of conventional farmers was carried out on the basis of a literatur study and interviews with conventional Gotlandic farmers. The analysis showed that some of these values conflicted with sustainable agriculture, while others did not. It was mainly the visible symbols of being a ’good farmer’ that inhibited the implementation of sustainable practices along with the small economic margins most conventional farmers have. The study concludes that ’good farmer’ values can be a key element in the change of conventional agriculture, if these values are shifted towards sustainable ones. This shift can be facilitated by establishing new social contexts for the farmers and changing the structures of the current food systems.