Remaking lowland soils: Conflicting care practices in the green transition of the agricultural sector in Denmark
Hegelund, Freja Marie LU
(2024)
16th NESS - Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference
p.22-22
- Abstract
- In the wake of the 2021 national objective to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector, the Danish government agreed to aim for redesignating 100.000 ha of carbon rich low-lying soils by 2030. Positioned as a pivotal element in achieving up to 50% in emissions reduction from the agricultural sector, these lowland soils assume a paramount role in Denmark's green transition of the sector.
Historically cultivated and drained by farmers to turn the lowland soils into fertile farming landscapes, the current transformative process of redesignation lowland soils is characterized by inherent conflicts in knowledge, practices, and perceptions. Tensions emerge notably between national policies, public authorities, and the... (More) - In the wake of the 2021 national objective to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector, the Danish government agreed to aim for redesignating 100.000 ha of carbon rich low-lying soils by 2030. Positioned as a pivotal element in achieving up to 50% in emissions reduction from the agricultural sector, these lowland soils assume a paramount role in Denmark's green transition of the sector.
Historically cultivated and drained by farmers to turn the lowland soils into fertile farming landscapes, the current transformative process of redesignation lowland soils is characterized by inherent conflicts in knowledge, practices, and perceptions. Tensions emerge notably between national policies, public authorities, and the local farmers intimately connected to these lands.
This paper explores how negotiations and conflicts between epistemic authority and situated and embodied knowledge can be understood through the conceptual lens of disrupting, contradictory and conflicting care. Understanding care as an act of caring-with central to the socio-ecological production and reproduction of landscapes (e.g., Tronto 1993; Harcourt 2023), this paper advocates for a broadened perspective on care encompassing contradictory practices and knowledges.
This approach illuminates the complexities inherent in repairing, maintaining, and remaking degraded agricultural landscapes, acknowledging both intentional and unintentional ignorance embedded in nature and landscape restoration efforts. The paper concludes by discussing how a focus on conflicting care practices both within the farm and beyond opens for new ways to reconceptualize and remake agricultural landscapes in times of ecosystem degradation, climate change and conflicts between forms of knowledge, matters of care and practices. This paper adds to the debate on how the historical practices and imaginaries of the future associated with agricultural lowland soils necessitate novel approaches to repairing and (re)knowing these landscapes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/37608842-fc9c-4940-b695-5ca796e7bd46
- author
- Hegelund, Freja Marie
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Care, Soil, Farming, Agriculture, Restoration, Knowledge production
- pages
- 1 pages
- conference name
- 16th NESS - Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference
- conference location
- Turku, Finland
- conference dates
- 2024-06-04 - 2024-06-06
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 37608842-fc9c-4940-b695-5ca796e7bd46
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-10 16:04:55
- date last changed
- 2024-06-11 08:06:53
@misc{37608842-fc9c-4940-b695-5ca796e7bd46,
abstract = {{In the wake of the 2021 national objective to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector, the Danish government agreed to aim for redesignating 100.000 ha of carbon rich low-lying soils by 2030. Positioned as a pivotal element in achieving up to 50% in emissions reduction from the agricultural sector, these lowland soils assume a paramount role in Denmark's green transition of the sector.<br/>Historically cultivated and drained by farmers to turn the lowland soils into fertile farming landscapes, the current transformative process of redesignation lowland soils is characterized by inherent conflicts in knowledge, practices, and perceptions. Tensions emerge notably between national policies, public authorities, and the local farmers intimately connected to these lands. <br/>This paper explores how negotiations and conflicts between epistemic authority and situated and embodied knowledge can be understood through the conceptual lens of disrupting, contradictory and conflicting care. Understanding care as an act of caring-with central to the socio-ecological production and reproduction of landscapes (e.g., Tronto 1993; Harcourt 2023), this paper advocates for a broadened perspective on care encompassing contradictory practices and knowledges. <br/>This approach illuminates the complexities inherent in repairing, maintaining, and remaking degraded agricultural landscapes, acknowledging both intentional and unintentional ignorance embedded in nature and landscape restoration efforts. The paper concludes by discussing how a focus on conflicting care practices both within the farm and beyond opens for new ways to reconceptualize and remake agricultural landscapes in times of ecosystem degradation, climate change and conflicts between forms of knowledge, matters of care and practices. This paper adds to the debate on how the historical practices and imaginaries of the future associated with agricultural lowland soils necessitate novel approaches to repairing and (re)knowing these landscapes.}},
author = {{Hegelund, Freja Marie}},
keywords = {{Care; Soil; Farming; Agriculture; Restoration; Knowledge production}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{22--22}},
title = {{Remaking lowland soils: Conflicting care practices in the green transition of the agricultural sector in Denmark}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/188808800/NESS2024_Program_of_workshops.pdf}},
year = {{2024}},
}