Discursive mindscapes in regenerative agriculture: exploring different interpretations of regenerative agriculture and implications for transformation

Gordon, Ethan M. S.

Discursive mindscapes in regenerative agriculture: exploring different interpretations of regenerative agriculture and implications for transformation

Gordon, Ethan M. S.

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2023

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Gordon, Ethan M. S.
dc.date.accessioned	2023-09-27T00:27:53Z
dc.date.available	2023-09-27T00:27:53Z
dc.date.issued	2023
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/172302
dc.description	University of Technology Sydney. Institute for Sustainable Futures.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.description.abstract	Agricultural landscapes have been reshaped globally to drive unsustainable increases in profit and production. This is contributing significantly to the degradation of planetary systems and the vulnerability of food systems. A prominent discursive alternative to the status-quo is regenerative agriculture (RA), which seeks to transform food production and repair ecosystems. This thesis uses action-oriented practice-research to explore RA discourse and its transformative potential. The analysis identifies nine discourses contributing to the over-arching discourse of RA (a discourse coalition). The thesis describes these component discourses and discusses tensions that may make RA vulnerable to co-optation and greenwashing, diluting its transformative potential. Processes of discursive structuration and institutionalisation may result in RA shedding its more transformative elements. Instead, agricultural transformation requires discourses that divest the logic of coloniality and encourage place-sourced, relational interpretations of RA. These need to tell a story that can be globally shared, but locally adapted.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.format	Thesis (PhD)
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US.UTF-8
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/172302/1/thesis.pdf
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	© 2023 Ethan M. S. Gordon
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/cph
dc.title	Discursive mindscapes in regenerative agriculture: exploring different interpretations of regenerative agriculture and implications for transformation	en_US.UTF-8
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*

Abstract:

Agricultural landscapes have been reshaped globally to drive unsustainable increases in profit and production. This is contributing significantly to the degradation of planetary systems and the vulnerability of food systems. A prominent discursive alternative to the status-quo is regenerative agriculture (RA), which seeks to transform food production and repair ecosystems. This thesis uses action-oriented practice-research to explore RA discourse and its transformative potential. The analysis identifies nine discourses contributing to the over-arching discourse of RA (a discourse coalition). The thesis describes these component discourses and discusses tensions that may make RA vulnerable to co-optation and greenwashing, diluting its transformative potential. Processes of discursive structuration and institutionalisation may result in RA shedding its more transformative elements. Instead, agricultural transformation requires discourses that divest the logic of coloniality and encourage place-sourced, relational interpretations of RA. These need to tell a story that can be globally shared, but locally adapted.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/172302