Project management: Bettina Engels, Lisa Bogerts, Dr. Adrian Rothers (Philipps University of Marburg)

Funding: German Foundation for Peace Research 

Recent agricultural protests in Europe have revealed significant resistance from farmers to socio-ecological transformations.

Right-wing populist and democratically regressive movements played a relevant role in this. In order to understand this and develop starting points for a progressive transformation, the project examines the conflict-shaping social representations of farmers in Germany from an interdisciplinary perspective. We investigate how farmers perceive the societal value placed on agriculture and the political economy of the sector.

Using Q-methodology, we identify typical social representations that shape current agricultural policy conflicts. In doing so, we highlight both consensual and controversial aspects and identify connections between perceptions of social recognition and assessments of the political framework conditions.