Farmers' perspectives on transitions away from animal agriculture food systems

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dc.contributor.authorBarnard, Alison E.
dc.contributor.supervisorSmith, André
dc.date.accessioned2024-12-23T22:17:22Z
dc.date.available2024-12-23T22:17:22Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Sociology
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts MA
dc.description.abstractDespite a growing field of research on how workers in highly polluting sectors are transitioning to more sustainable livelihoods, little research is available on how farmers in animal agriculture engage in such transitions. Conventional animal agriculture is widely recognized as a significant contributor to climate change and other environmental problems. This research explored farmers’ motivations for transitioning away from animal agriculture and toward plant-based agriculture or animal sanctuaries, documenting sources of support and the barriers farmers face in transitioning. The research design entailed qualitative semi-structured interviews with eight U.S. farmers. The study was guided by the multi-level perspective (MLP) in the analysis and discussion section of the thesis. The findings showed that there are a multitude of forces influencing farm transitions, indicating a need to use a wide variety of strategies for transitions. Beyond economic and political motivations, some farmers in the study were motivated by a change in their view on animals whereby they no longer agree with animal agriculture processes such as breeding and sending animals to slaughter. Farmers noted barriers to transitioning such as the burden of debt, particularly for contract chicken farmers, an increase in labour demands with vegetable production, and the need to develop new marketing strategies to align with their new enterprises. The study’s findings can inform farm policy on supporting farmers who wish to transition their farms from animal to plant-based operations.
dc.description.embargo2025-12-04
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduate
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/20891
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Web
dc.subjectfood system transition
dc.subjectanimal to plant-based farm transitions
dc.subjectsustainable agriculture
dc.subjectanimal agriculture
dc.subjectsustainable transitions research field
dc.subjectveganic
dc.subjectindustrialization
dc.subjectcontract farming
dc.subjectmulti-level perspective
dc.titleFarmers' perspectives on transitions away from animal agriculture food systems
dc.typeThesis

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