Pairing a Q Study with Participatory Decision-making around Farmworker Safety: A Case in Washington's Tree Fruit Industry
Nadine Lehrer,
Colleen Donovan and
Maureen Gullen
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 2019, vol. 8, issue 4
Abstract:
Tenets of participatory decision-making speak to the importance of meaningful participation from diverse stakeholders for improving both process and outcomes. But what participation actually looks like can vary substantially, and constructing a group where all actors can truly speak is often elusive. In addressing controversies over pesticide safety in tree fruit orchards in Washington State, we used a Q study to identify divergent viewpoints and convened a group to bring these views together. The resulting stakeholder working group was then challenged to both acknowledge their often-opposing viewpoints and to construct a mutually beneficial idea for improving pesticide safety in the tree fruit industry. This paper explores the dynamics of this stakeholder working group, analyzing not only its successes but also its challenges and difficulties. Rooted in a mainstream agricultural industry in the western United States, this study highlights the ways in which seemingly simple things like who “shows up” and why can shape processes and outcomes. See the press release for this article.
Keywords: Research Methods/Statistical Methods; Farm Management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/360018/files/662.pdf (application/pdf)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:joafsc:360018
Access Statistics for this article
More articles in Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development from Center for Transformative Action, Cornell University
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().