The nexus of farming & energy: navigating social tensions at the intersection of sustainable agriculture and unconventional O&G drilling
Date
2015
Authors
Sprague, Cherilyn, author
Malin, Stephanie, advisor
Opsal, Tara, committee member
Thilmany, Dawn, committee member
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Abstract
The purpose of this research was to examine how unconventional O&G development is interacting with small-scale sustainable and organic agriculture in Northern Colorado, particularly Boulder, Weld, and Larimer counties. The issues explored are impacts which farmers face as a result of development, the political economic context that small-scale farmers operate under, and how these interactions with O&G development may result in voluntary or forced shifts in identity. By examining these issues, I show how the institution of split estate structures farmer’s interactions with O&G development because it dictates how much control they enjoy and how they are able to participate in procedural equity. I hope this research shows the unique challenges that sustainable and organic farmers face when dealing with O&G development, while also illustrating that it is the institution of split estate that impacts these challenges the most.
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Subject
identity
organic agriculture
hydraulic fracturing
sustainable agriculture
natural resource sociology