Changes in Agriculture through the Farmers’ Eyes and Bodies
Principal Investigator at ZRC SAZU
dr. Duška Knežević Hočevar-
Original Title
Spremembe v kmetijstvu skozi oči in telesa kmetov
Project Team
Saša Poljak Istenič, PhD, Majda Černič Istenič, PhD, Lilijana Šprah, PhD, Mateja Slovenc Grasselli, PhD, Anela Klemenc Bešo-
Project ID
J6-2577
-
Duration
1 November 2020–31 August 2024 -
SICRIS
Changes in Agriculture through the Farmers’ Eyes and Bodies -
Lead Partner
ZRC SAZU
-
Financial Source
Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije
The objective of the project is to better explain the impact of radically changed post-1991 Slovenian agricultural developments on farmers’ health-related suffering than it is conveyed by occupational health evidence. The research questions - whether and how agricultural restructuring since 1991 has come to be translated into personal health-related suffering of farmers in Slovenia, and how farmers respond to, interpret, make sense of, and engage with these health-related conjunctures in agriculture – will be explored by employing an anthropological approach of the originally introduced and combined theorizations of moral economy, social suffering and health conjuncture in the field of ‘farming stress’ problematic. A theorization of ‘moral economy’ will provide a framework for examining ways in which the observed farming economy intersects with ‘moral economy’, which has implications for farmers’ wellbeing. The intellectual tradition of medical anthropologists will shape observations of personal suffering as a response to a drastically changed social situation in one’s life. Finally, the health conjuncture perspective refers only to certain elements of socially structured and temporarily situated contexts which are relevant for farmers’ experience of ‘farming stress’ circumstances and farming-related health outcomes.
The research includes two working sets. The first one involves multisite fieldwork on several conventional and organic family farms to provide rich ethnographies about interrelated social, economic, political and emotional processes which form the underlying causes of farmers’ health-related suffering. The second working set includes a review of occupational health and other health-related datasets and surveys associated with farmers to assess who among farmers (e.g. active/non-active) is included or excluded from the occupation category, and which datasets have to be harmonised to identify the health status of the ‘active’ and ‘non-active’ farmers. On the basis of results obtained from both working sets a scenario for ethnographically informed and improved health evidence of this occupational group will be designed.
Internal communication and studying updated literature (M1-M36): Coordination of work of the project group through kick off meeting and regular working meetings per year; preparation of 1 intermediary and 1 final report; set-up of project web tools, and studying updated literature.
Pre-fieldwork logistics and multisite fieldwork (M8-M29): Determining field locations; selecting family farms; organising fieldwork logistics; conducting multisite fieldwork on family farms; transcription and thematic analyses of obtained material.
Occupational health and related datasets (M1-M29): Review and critical assessment of available public national and local datasets on occupational health and other health-related evidence of farm population; conducting several focus groups and semi-structured expert interviews about the need for improved occupational health evidence of farmers.
Final analysis and recommendations (M29-M36): Synthesis of results and findings of both working sets; designing a scenario (recommendations) for ethnographically informed occupational health evidence; preparation of conference papers, scientific articles, a dissertation and a common publication.
Dissemination (M6-M36): Dissemination of intermediary and final results in the form of a policy brief to the interested public; active participation at lay, professional and scientific events; organisation of a scientific symposium and presentation of final results in the campaign The World Occupational Safety and Health Day on 28 April; knowledge transfer to the pedagogical process.
RESULTS ACCORDING TO PROJECT OBJECTIVES
THE MAIN PROJECT OBJECTIVE – to better explain the impact of the post-1991 agricultural context on the distress and illnesses of farmers as reported by professional health records – was realised in two working sets: WS1 (field research) and WS2 (review of available health and occupational datasets).
OBJECTIVE 1.1 (WS1): Investigate how “farming stress” contexts as recognised by research participants, affects their health-related distress and how research participants interpret, make sense of and manage this distress.
DESCRIPTION OF RESULTS: The post-1991 agricultural context is perceived by the research participants as a welcome opportunity to develop their own farms, which did not exist before 1991, but also as undesirable and uncertain. They experience the consequences of the latter as the disintegration of rural communities and embody negative emotions of fear and anxiety due to external pressures from ever-changing agricultural policies and global circumstances (climate change, price fluctuations, etc.) that they cannot control. All this is also reflected in their bodies. During 10 months of field research on 24 farms in rural communities in the Pomurje region, they explained the reasons for their poor wellbeings and damaged bodies. A subsequent 3-month field study in the USA showed how support programmes and occupational health and safety measures can alleviate the farmers' distress and physical damage, and where the pitfalls lie.
KEY PUBLICATIONS OF RESULTS:
Original scientific articles:
Knežević Hočevar, D. Farmer distress through ordinary ethics: “Abolish the social support and give us fairer prices!” L' Uomo società tradizione sviluppo, 2024, 14 (1): 41-64. https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa03/uomo/article/view/19008/17964
Knežević Hočevar, D. and Cukut Krilić, S. Managing the distress of migrant farmworkers: lessons learned from the Midwestern United States. Dve domovini (Two Homelands), 2024, 60: 115-135. http://twohomelands.zrc-sazu.si/uploads/articles/1722447142_TSA006_Kne%C5%BEevi%C4%87_Cukut.pdf, Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije - dLib.si, DOI: 10.3986/2024.2.07
Knežević Hočevar, D. and Slovenc Grasselli, M. Farmers on the reasons for their embodied anxieties in post-1991 Slovenia. Anthropological Notebooks, 2023, 29 (2): 101-127. https://anthropological-notebooks.zrc-sazu.si/Notebooks/article/view/617/479, Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije - dLib.si, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10471596
Slovenc, M. and Erjavec, E. Cooperation among farmers through the lens of their future orientations. Anthropological Notebooks, 2021, 27 (1): 28-54. http://notebooks.drustvo-antropologov.si/Notebooks/article/view/240, Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije - dLib.si, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5789103
Review scientific articles:
Nye, C., Knežević Hočevar, D., et al. Mental health, well-being and resilience in agricultural areas: a research agenda for the Global North. Journal of rural studies, Feb. 2025 [in progress], vol. 114, [article no.] 103506. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016724003103, DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstur.2024.103506
Cukut Krilić, S., Knežević Hočevar, D. Strukturne ranljivosti delavcev migrantov v kmetijstvu (Structural Vulnerabilities of Migrant Workers in Agriculture). Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva, 2022, 62 (2): 70-80. Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije - dLib.si
Knežević Hočevar, D., Cukut Krilić, S. Duševno zdravje in migracije: uporabnost programa Prva pomoč na področju duševnega zdravja (Mental Health and Migration: The Applicability of the Mental Health
First Aid Program). Dve domovini (Two Homelands), 2021, 54: 205-219. https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/twohomelands/article/view/10281/9440, Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije - dLib.si, DOI: 10.3986/dd.2021.2.15
Chapter in a monograph:
Knežević Hočevar, D. Ko na kmetiji odpove telo (When the Body on the Farm Fails). In: Šumi, I. and Urek, M. (eds.), Od dehumanizacije do diskriminacije: vztrajne socialne problematike v Sloveniji (From dehumanization to discrimination: persistent social problematics in Slovenia). Ljubljana: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani, 2024, 177-212.
Knežević Hočevar, D. Podeželski zdravniki širše o trpljenju ljudi, ki kmetujejo (Medical reflections on the suffering of farmers beyond the symptoms). In: Šprah, L. (ed.), Od seznanjenosti s težavami v duševnem zdravju do učinkovitega odzivanja z manj stigma (From mental health knowledge to effective responses with less stigma). Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2022, 209-220.
Editor:
Editorial Preface
Knežević Hočevar, D. and Janssen, B. Living in contrasting agricultural worlds and yet experiencing similar anxieties. Anthropological Notebooks, 2023, 29 (2): 1-13. https://anthropological-notebooks.zrc-sazu.si/Notebooks/article/view/611/473, Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije - dLib.si, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10417734
Professional monograph:
Doctoral dissertation:
OBJECTIVE 1.2 (WS1): Provide ethnographies with an original integrated theorisation of moral economy, social suffering and the health conjuncture approach.
DESCRIPTION OF RESULTS: To date, we have provided material for the ethnography, which will be produced as planned in the years following the completion of the project. In addition to ongoing observations in ethnographic diaries, field material has been fully transcribed: approximately 100 recorded interviews with farmers, local health workers, agricultural advisors, representatives of farmer non-governmental organisations, and designers and implementers of farmer well-being and occupational safety programmes in the US. The analysis of the material in the context of the anthropological theories mentioned above was presented as partial results in the publications mentioned above.
OBJECTIVE 1.3 (WS1): Propose recommendations for ethnographically informed public health evidence for this particular professional group.
DESCRIPTION OF RESULTS: In the final phase of the research, we unanimously concluded that we would combine this objective with objective 2.2 (WS2), i.e., the development of a scenario to improve health data, as the two outcomes are closely intertwined. The research has shown that people living on farms who are employed outside the farm, still in education or retired, also invest their work, income and physical labour in the farm, even if they are not recognised as part of this statistical occupational group. A combined document is currently in preparation.
OBJECTIVE 2.1 (WS2): Critically assess which farmers are included or excluded from the statistically defined occupational category of skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers; in which other existing databases farmers can be identified and which databases need to be harmonised to identify the health status of farmers.
DESCRIPTION OF RESULTS: In May 2022, based on preliminary interviews, we conducted three focus groups in which representatives of health data administrators and stakeholders interested in their use, including representatives of farmers, assessed the need for health data for this occupational group, the organisation of data collections, international comparability, shortcomings, and needs for improvement. In Slovenia, health data on services provided in the public health system are stored in two databases, ZZZS and NIJZ, from which data on the insured can be obtained by means of their health insurance number, which is also linked to their personal identification number. This means that the health data can be linked to various other databases, such as SURS, SPIZ, etc. Participants in the FSs expressed the need to know the health status of this occupational group, but pointed out several obstacles that make these statistics incomplete and unreliable. In their opinion, it would make more sense to carry out representative studies (surveys) than to create a health register for all people living and working on farms.
PUBLICATION OF THE RESULTS:
Original scientific article:
Šprah, L. and Černič Istenič, M. Is there a need to monitor the health statistics of people who farm? Anthropological Notebooks, 2023, 29 (2): 128-163. https://anthropological-notebooks.zrc-sazu.si/Notebooks/article/view/618/468, Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije - dLib.si, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10417582
OBJECTIVE 2.2 (WS2): Develop a scenario to improve health data based on the results of a critical assessment of existing health data on farmers and the results and findings of multi-site fieldwork studies.
DESCRIPTION OF RESULTS: See 1.3 (WS1).
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT TEAM’S RESEARCH RESULTS
SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE
The project “Agricultural Change through the Farmers’ Eyes and Bodies” originally introduced an anthropological approach combining the theorisation of moral economy, social suffering and health conjuncture in the field of farming stress. Such an anthropological or non-medical approach improves the interpretation of the socio-cultural and experiential background of the health-related evidence of people who farm. It makes it possible to observe and explain how people who farm and live on differently orientated farms experience, interpret, understand and respond to health-related circumstances that are shaped by the moral economies of those who create agricultural development imperatives on the one hand and farmers who practise “good farming” for them on the other. This approach focuses on transforming the various pressures of agricultural developments and conflicting moral economies into the suffering of the people who farm. The health conjuncture approach to the circumstances (moral economies) of farming and the creative response to them focuses on the ethnographically observed and understood distress of farmers by examining their valued and emotional judgements about the consequences of injury or illness in a particular time and space.
Based on the analysis of the fieldwork research results and a critical review of the available statistics on occupational health, the project team is already in the process of expanding a broader interdisciplinary debate between medical and cultural anthropology on the one hand and public health and psychology on the other, thus implementing a new research direction within the Studies on Distress and Being Well research programme. Inspired by the findings of the Agricultural Change through the Farmers’ Eyes and Bodies project, we argue that public health can benefit from an in-depth anthropological examination of the health conjuncture in the context of agricultural developments in Slovenia after 1991 in relation to farmers’ personal distress and illness, as well as from a critical review of the existing evidence, categories and concepts used, as these (due to methodological limitations) exclude statistically invisible people who live on farms, go to school, work off-farm or are retired, but still invest their bodies and minds in farms. The relative reliability of the evidence of health on the farm depends on a number of circumstances. From how the person on the farm is statistically defined to the interest in such records by a variety of stakeholders in agriculture, healthcare, labour law, insurance and even banking. A statistically visible person who is a farmer is a person who can be identified from the Central Register of Agricultural Holdings, owns agricultural land or is insured as a farmer. However, it gets complicated when it is a person who is not all of these but is still farming (e.g., a child, a teenager, a student who works on the farm, a farmer’s spouse who is employed off the farm but “helps out” on the farm every day, a retired farmer’s mother who still helps out on the farm at an advanced age, etc.). There are many examples of people who farm, but not many that are statistically visible. When you enrich statistics with ethnographic insights, you can add different voices of distress and suffering to numbers, charts, surveys and calculated trends. Finally, anthropology can also benefit from improved statistics and corresponding databases, because the holistic perspective of a social phenomenon (occupational health) cannot simply be reduced to questions of individual motivations, experiences or agency. The new research orientation will not only enable the production of ethnographically based occupational and health-related findings, but also better-informed interventions and support programmes for people who farm.
SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SLOVENIA
The public health crisis in agriculture is reflected in the records of occupational diseases, work-related deaths and injuries, as well as in the records of the opportunity costs of such health conditions for individual farms and agriculture as a whole. Researchers are aware that the context of work-related health outcomes is important, but such contexts are rarely observed beyond publicly available data or a limited number of contextual determinants - risk factors - in what remains the most influential field of occupational medicine and public health. However, it becomes complicated when responsibility for such health conditions is attributed solely to individual risk behaviour, as has been highlighted by medical anthropologists. By focusing on global structural factors, they have linked the study of individual suffering to the study of social suffering in order to better understand how historically shaped, large-scale socio-economic forces - in our case, the global modernisation of agriculture - can translate into personal suffering and illness. Such an approach locates responsibility for health problems even beyond the individual who engages in risky behaviour, which was also discussed in our project.
The results of the project confirm, among other things, the distress of farmers due to the continuous restructuring of agriculture in Slovenia in line with the global modernisation of agriculture and the measures of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. They also confirmed that there are no regular and systematic surveys on the health of this occupational group in Slovenia, but that there is a strong interest and need for such records on the part of those responsible for health records and those involved in their use, including farmers’ representatives. They are not only necessary because of another obligation to monitor health statistics in the workplace. They are extremely important for agricultural decision-makers who are increasingly confronted with the consequences of declining interest in farming among young people, growing dissatisfaction and protests from farmers and, as our research has clearly shown, the observation that the development of agriculture brings with it uncertainties, risks and hardships that need to be urgently addressed alongside the promised opportunities. Many stakeholders in agriculture are not sufficiently aware of the “wellbeing of people who farm” through the existing national health picture. They can only rely on rough estimates from international surveys, which are usually based on indirect and relatively sparse national data, that typically exclude statistically invisible groups of people who farm (e.g., children, adolescents and students, spouses of farmers who work off-farm but also on-farm, etc.). We argue that research, monitoring and critical reflection on the wellbeing of people who farm is essential when it comes to planning sustainable agriculture in Slovenia, which is intertwined with many other economic sectors that influence the sustainable development of Slovenia as a whole.
Agriculture is linked to a number of public goods, such as food security, land use, spatial planning, biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. The project confirmed that the conflicting demands of current agricultural development contribute to the plight of farmers, but that these imperatives still favour the role of the farmer as entrepreneur and technical expert, rather than as a stakeholder publicly discussing the valuable aspects of agriculture. Farmers are increasingly confronted with issues that have a public dimension and they experience that their profession is held in low esteem in the eyes of the public. The project has confirmed that it is not enough to rely solely on their personal ethics. As a profession, they need to develop a code of professional ethics in order to participate fully in public debates on agricultural issues, i.e., issues that go beyond the purely economic aspects of farming.