Research-in-Progress: A Pragmatist Study of Regenerative Agriculture as an Emerging Institutional Field

• In Event: 50462 - Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4: Agriculture as a SKAT topic

Abstract

Climate change is a grand challenge. Regenerative agriculture – an ensemble of natural systems, practices and technologies that sequester atmospheric carbon in soil – offers promise for helping to mitigate the crisis. This paper reports on research in progress that utilizes a pragmatist approach to understand the “environed social learning” (Aviles 2022, 2023) of regenerative agriculture as an emerging institutional field.
The paper proceeds as follows. First, a brief overview of how and why regenerative agriculture is viewed as a viable approach to mitigating climate change. This is followed by an overview of how and why pragmatism offers promise for creatively understanding, assisting and accelerating that mitigation process as it grows into an institutional field. Next, a description of the current research approach, and some preliminary findings. Finally, I discuss next steps for continuing the research and point towards directions for possible further contributions.

Author

• Jo Ann Brooks