Abstract
Within scientists’ research practices for improving agricultural resource management, their use of concepts of sustainability remains problematic. Sustainability means different things to different people, and in different contexts; it is ambiguous (Allen, 1993; MacLeod and Taylor, 1993, 1994) and contentious (Ison and Humphreys, 1993; Penman, 1994). Linguistic and communication analyses are providing convincing evidence that meanings of sustainability emerge from within the human communication environment (Penman, 1994; Shulman, 1996a,b). They argue that this environment is dynamic and, to a large extent, indeterminate. Penman (1994, in press) and Shulman (1996a; also, Shulman and Martinek, in press) have taken this further, suggesting that good scientist-constituent communication practices need to acknowledge that, because the situation is unique for each participant in time and space, differences in meanings will be the norm. Good negotiation uses this indeterminacy to open up possibilities for examining the adequacy of specific sustainability concepts in use.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, P. (ed.), 1993, Food for the Future. Conditions and Contradictions of Sustainability, Wiley: New York.
Alston, J.M., Norton, G.W., and Pardey, P.G., 1995, Science Under Scarcity: Principles and Practice for Agricultural Research Evaluation and Priority Setting, Cornell University Press: Ithaca.
Ayres, R.U., 1996, Statistical measures of unsustainability, Ecological Economics 16:239–255.
Barnett, V., Payne, R., and Steiner, R. (eds.), 1995, Agricultural Sustainability: Economic, Environmental and Statistical Considerations, Wiley: Chichester.
Beckerman, W, 1995, Small is Stupid. Blowing the Whistle on the Greens, Duckworth: London.
Conway, G.R., 1987, The properties of agroecosystems, Agricultural Systems 24:95–117.
Costanza, R., and Patten, B.C., 1995, Defining and predicting sustainability, Ecological Economics 15:193–196.
Cox, P.G., MacLeod, N.D., Ridge, P.E., and Shulman, A.D., 1996, Reengineering agricultural R, D&E to support management decision-making: problems and prospects, Proc. 8th Aust. Agronomy Conf, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland (30 Jan–2 Feb 1996), Aust. Soc. of Agronomy, Carlton, pp. 168-171.
Hansen, J.W., 1996, Is agricultural sustainability a useful concept?, Agricultural Systems 50:117–43.
Harrington, L.W., 1992, Measuring sustainability: issues and alternatives, J. for Farming Systems Research-Extension 3(1): 1–20.
Ison, R., and Humphreys, C., 1993, Evaluation of’ sustainable Beef Productions Systems in Central Queensland’ Project, Dept of Crop Sciences, University of Sydney.
Kelada, J.N., 1996, Integrating Reengineering with Total Quality, ASQC Quality Press: Milwaukee.
Kelley, T.G., Ryan, J.G., and Patel, B.K., 1995, Applied participatory priority setting in international agricultural research: making trade-offs transparent and explicit, Agricultural Systems 49:177–216.
Kula, E., 1994, Economics of Natural Resources, the Environment and Politics. 2nd ed.: Chapman & Hall, London.
Leonard-Barton, D., 1995, Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation, Harvard Business School Press: Boston.
Lynam, J.K., and Herdt, R.W., 1988, Sense and sustainability: sustainability as an objective in international agricultural research, Paper for CIP-Rockefeller Foundation Conference on Farmers and Food Systems, Lima, Peru.
MacLeod, N.D., and Taylor, J.A., 1993, Sustainable grazing practices in Queensland, Australian Farm Manager 3(6):6–9.
MacLeod, N.D., and Taylor, J.A., 1994, Perceptions of beef cattle producers and scientists relating to sustainable land use issues and their implications for technology transfer, The Rangeland Journal 16:238–253.
Macleod, N.D., and Shulman, A.D., Bridging the output-outcome gap in sustainability R&D — a fifth generation R&D punctuated arena model, Proc. 5th International UKSS Conference (7–11 July, 1997), United Kingdom Systems Society, Milton Keynes, in press.
Milon, J.W, and Shogren, J.F. (eds.), 1995, Integrating Economic and Ecological Indicators: Practical Methods for Environmental Policy Analysis, Praeger Press, Westport.
Monteith, J.L., 1990, Can sustainability be quantified? Indian Journal of Dryland Agricultural Research and Development 5(1/2): 1–15.
Norgaard, R.B., 1995, Metaphors we might survive by, Ecological Economics 15:129–131.
Parton, K. A., 1996, Quality, quality assurance and quality improvement in agronomic research, Proc. 8th Aust. Agronomy Conf., University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland (30 Jan — 2 Feb 1996), Aust. Soc. of Agron., Carlton, pp. 43-46.
Penman, R., 1994, Environmental matters and communication challenges, Aust, J. of Communication 21(3):26–39.
Penman, R., The researcher in communication: the primary research position, in: Context and Communication Behavior (J. Owen, ed.), Context Press, Reno, in press.
Penn, J., 1990, Towards an ecologically-based society: a Rawlsian perspective, Ecological Economics 2:225–242.
Price, C., 1993, Time, Discounting and Value, Blackwell: Oxford.
Rabl, A., 1996, Discounting of long-term costs: What would future generations prefer us to do? Ecological Economics 17:137–145.
Senge, P.M., 1990, The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, Doubleday: New York.
Shulman, A.D., 1996a, Communicating science: opportunities and constraints for a scientist, in: Science Communication (D. Sless, ed.), pp. 55–68, Communication Research Press, Canberra.
Shulman, A.D., 1996b, Putting group information technology in its place: communication and good work group performance, in: Handbook of Organisation Studies (S.R. Clegg, C. Handy, and W. Nord, eds.), pp. 357–374, Sage Publications, Newbury Park.
Shulman, A. D., and Martinek, T., Managing institutional collaboration in catchment systems research, in: Farming Action: Catchment Reaction (J. Williams, ed.), CSIRO, Canberra, in press.
Thompson, P.B., 1992, The varieties of sustainability, Agric, Human Values 9(3): 11–19.
Van Dieren, W., 1995, Taking Nature into Account: A Report to the Club of Rome, Springer-Verlag: New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cox, P.G., MacLeod, N.D., Shulman, A.D. (1997). Putting Sustainability into Practice in Agricultural Research for Development. In: Stowell, F.A., Ison, R.L., Armson, R., Holloway, J., Jackson, S., McRobb, S. (eds) Systems for Sustainability. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0265-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0265-8_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-0267-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-0265-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive