Thesis

Exploring agroecology in Scotland with critical systems heuristics

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Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2024
Thesis identifier
  • T16994
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 202076676
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • This thesis aims to demonstrate the utility of critical systems heuristics (CSH) for exploring perspectives on agroecological transition in Scotland. Agroecology is of growing interest in Scotland, but there is presently a lack of understanding of the role it might play in a sustainable farming transition. Additionally, current research suggests that it is a concept with which farmers in Scotland are unfamiliar. This thesis reports an application of CSH to explore perspectives on agroecological transition in Scotland to address this knowledge gap. The research derives a series of practical recommendations for the progression of agroecological transition in Scotland, namely: support for a greater diversity of farming systems; action across the entire food system to avoid “lock-ins”; improved tools to measure farming outcomes; and nuanced and precise conversations regarding the nature and purpose of agroecological farming. Furthermore, a preliminary phenomenological exploration of agroecology in Scotland not only finds that agroecology is an approach with which some farmers are familiar, but also characterises it as a value-driven approach to developing individualised, lower input farming systems. A further aim of this research is to consider the utility of CSH for exploring problems of agricultural transition. The thesis reports a second, workshop-based application of CSH that explores data quality for an agricultural software organisation aiming to accelerate a transition to data-driven farm management decision-making in the UK. The workshop surfaced key areas for improvement in the organisation’s data processing and ingestion practices. Changes were implemented over a period of three months that helped the organisation move towards their data quality objectives by reducing processing time and improving data accuracy. The thesis compares both of the reported CSH applications to understand the merits of the framework for exploring problems involving farming change. Methodological contributions include two distinct, accessible applications of CSH that I hope may lower the barrier to adoption of the method for systems researchers and practitioners. Further, positing that the under-utilisation of CSH relative to soft systems approaches is at least in part a result of a lack of clarity surrounding the method, the thesis includes a review of the CSH literature to understand how the framework has been applied and provide clarity on key terminologies.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Morton, Alec (Writer on management science)
  • Blair, Shona
Resource Type
Note
  • Previously held under moratorium from 12 June 2024 until 12 June 2026.
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