Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The current farmer identity is most often conceptualized as a dichotomy; either a productivist, focused on increasing outputs and profits or the post-productivist, a more diversified-oriented farmer, intent on conservation. Understanding identity or underlying motivations is important for encouraging adoption of certain valued practices among farmers. Very few studies examine identity of the farmer who engages in more civically-minded activities. Civic agriculture is a term used to describe community food systems that focus on increasing interaction between consumer and producer. Proponents thus far, however, have not posited a specific farmer identity associated with civic agriculture, unlike the productivist farmer’s relationship with high-input farming and the post-productivist’s relationship to conservation farming. Farm to School (FTS) programs provide the context for this research, as FTS components of local sourcing and information sharing between farmer and student consumer are at the core of civic agriculture. Using Stryker’s identity theory—understanding identity as an iterative, interactive process of behavior and social relationships—as an analytic framework for 13 interviews with Mid-Atlantic fruit and vegetable farmers who participate or actively decided not to participate in FTS, this research seeks to conceptualize the different identities of farmers associated with this civic agriculture activity. Preliminary results demonstrate that there are multiple roles farmers identify with beyond just being solely financial or environmental actors; e.g. farmers may identify as community sustainers or health advocates, motivated by aspects of FTS programming. Further, utilizing identity salience hierarchy—a component of the theoretical framework—this research will examine the existence and interaction of the multiple identities within each individual farmer and how certain program characteristics may activate and elevate different identities. Understanding these multiple farmer identities is useful for tailoring technical assistance and outreach efforts to best facilitate and support engagement in community food system programs.