To be or to suffer? The role of cognitive dissonances in the cognitive locking of farm structural investment: an interdisciplinary perspective

Mikael Akimowicz (), Sophie Thiron (), Denis Requier-Desjardins (), Karen Landman, Charilaos Képhaliacos () and Harry Cummings
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Mikael Akimowicz: Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LEST UMR 7317
Sophie Thiron: CERTOP - Centre d'Etude et de Recherche Travail Organisation Pouvoir - UT2J - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Denis Requier-Desjardins: LEREPS - Laboratoire d'Etude et de Recherche sur l'Economie, les Politiques et les Systèmes Sociaux - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - UT2J - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Toulouse - ENSFEA - École Nationale Supérieure de Formation de l'Enseignement Agricole de Toulouse-Auzeville
Karen Landman: SEDRD - School of Environmental Design and Rural Development
Charilaos Képhaliacos: LEREPS - Laboratoire d'Etude et de Recherche sur l'Economie, les Politiques et les Systèmes Sociaux - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - UT2J - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Toulouse - ENSFEA - École Nationale Supérieure de Formation de l'Enseignement Agricole de Toulouse-Auzeville
Harry Cummings: SEDRD - School of Environmental Design and Rural Development

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Abstract: While concerns about farmers' mental health have risen all over the world over the last twenty years, the impact of farm structure on farmer's ill-being has been discussed only recently. In this article, farm investment decision-making is scrutinized in an attempt to shed light on the connection between farm structure and current farmers' ill-being with an interdisciplinary conceptual framework. The institutionalist approach aims to integrate the anthropological concept of sacred and the psychological concept of cognitive dissonances. The interviews of 41 urban-influenced farmers in/around the Ontario's Greenbelt, ON, Canada, and in Toulouse InterSCoT rely on the design of their investment decision-making mental models during semi-structured interviews. Results corroborate that the internalization of the norms of the current dominant agricultural model has solved cognitive dissonances and contributed to the adoption of the modern farmer identity. Nowadays, cognitive dissonances appear to be triggered by the diverging societal demands faced by farmers.

Keywords: Farm investment; Sacred beliefs; Psychological emotions; Cognitive dissonances; Farmers mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11-13
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Published in Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, 2025, ⟨10.1007/s41130-025-00244-1⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05364320

DOI: 10.1007/s41130-025-00244-1

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