Farm sustainability as a sustainability learning process in Arctic Norway

Abstract

Sustainability is proposed as a solution to the many negative consequences of modern agriculture. However, although science and policy have aimed for sustainability for more than two decades, it seems that we are not making enough progress. This is due to the complexities of the sustainability concept and that we need to better understand how we can create change. In seeing sustainability as a learning process, this thesis aims to understand how to enhance farm sustainability in Arctic Norway. This is achieved by combining four research rationales: stakeholders’ perspectives, sustainability assessments, sustainability learning, and participatory approaches. I use a case study strategy involving farms in Arctic Norway. By applying a multimethod qualitative approach, I explore the topic through three empirical papers wherein stakeholder participation plays a prominent role. By discussing the findings, I conceptualize farm sustainability as a long-term and multilevel learning process. To achieve farm sustainability, several steps must be aligned: there must be a purpose for the process, various stakeholders must take part, we must know what to learn, a transdisciplinary methodology must be used, and the process should be flexible. In addition, the process must be embedded in the very way of farming. The relevance of these findings is that farm sustainability must be aligned with change toward improved sustainability in society at large. Context plays a major role in what, why, and how we can learn, as well as in who we can learn with. Therefore, farm sustainability as a learning process must be translated to fit the empirical context. This thesis contributes to theory development in the field of agricultural sustainability. Furthermore, it deepens our understanding of how values and context influence farm sustainability, demonstrates the relevance of combining sustainability assessments with a learning process, and broadens our understanding of sustainability learning in agriculture. In combining ‘sustainability as a theory’ and ‘sustainability as a practice’, lies the key to farm sustainability in Arctic Norway.