Towards a social licence to farm: an Aristotelian approach to farmers' engagement with nonfarming people

Abstract

Ruminant livestock farmers in the UK find themselves at the centre of a contentious and often fractious public discourse about agriculture’s impacts on human and planetary health. The often generalised and simplistic nature of a predominantly (social) media-led public discourse around red meat has a polarising effect which risks ruminant livestock farmers’ social licence to farm (SLF), including those in the UK’s grassland farming regions such as the south-west of England (SWE). This thesis contributes to research understanding of farmers approaches to in-person engagement with nonfarming people and the extent to which practices are conducive to building relationships and creating conditions for dialogue that underpin SLF. It examines findings from 30 in-depth interviews with SWE beef and/or sheep farmers, 6 regional and national farming leaders, and a participative workshop involving farming and nonfarming people. It draws on developing theorisation of the social licence to operate concept, and Aristotelian interconnected concepts of practical wisdom (phronesis) as means to achieving human flourishing (eudaimonia), to advance a conceptual framework incorporating a twin engagement approach of dialogic communication and intrinsic friendly interactions to guide data analysis. Results revealed a) a predominant narrow conception of engagement as reconnection with the consumer, b) a prevalent deficit model approach to engagement, with the farmer as educator rather than co-learner for the instrumental purpose of ‘telling better’ or ‘selling better’. Less prevalent was an approach where the farmer engages not only qua farmer but multi-dimensionally qua person-in-community. This was a good fit with the conceptual framework and contributed to the development of an Engagement-as-Integration model to guide engagement policy and practice at the industry and farmer level. It advances a broader conception of engagement which elevates the social and relational dimension. It identifies a vicious cycle of barriers to developing practice and offers practical recommendations for ways forward.