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Sociology of Agriculture and Food (SAFRIG)

Valuing the values of farmers? Understanding the gap between values and actions of diversified vegetable farmers in Vermont Vitoria Cardoso*, Vitoria Cardoso, Daniel Tobin,

The number of organic farms in the United States has been consistently on the rise for several decades. However, organic farmers still struggle to secure viable livelihoods due to structural challenges (e.g. organic regulations), translating to a rising number of farmers planning to discontinue or scale back their organic production. Although organic agriculture has received considerable research attention, there remains insufficient understanding of the values underlying organic production, how those values are translated into practice, and the barriers farmers face in doing so. These issues can be understood through the lens of the value-action gap, an emerging strand of literature suggesting that people are driven by a complex set of values extending beyond instrumental ones (e.g. profit and productivity), yet their actions do not always reflect those values. To examine these challenges, this study investigates the value-action gap among organic diversified vegetable production in Vermont, a state among the top 10 nationally in number of organic farms. We employed a mixed-methods design to assess farmers’ attitudes toward their social, ecological, economic, and policy environments; the intentions guiding their practices; and the perspectives of consumers and policy actors who help shape the enabling context. structural barriers such as difficulties to access markets, to comply to the organic legislation, and have the recognition of consumers, hinder farmers’ ability to act according to the plurality of values farmers hold. These results can inform policies that not only address structural barriers (e.g. access to markets) but also personal factors, including enhancing farmers’ own perceptions of their societal value, to help promote attitudes and conditions that sustain organic farming practices.