From Knowledge to Invention: Exploring User Innovation in Irish Agriculture Patricia O’Flynn M.A. (Ireland) Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Engineering and Innovation The Open University, UK July, 2017 1 2 ABSTRACT Improvements in European agriculture are framed in the literature as arising from an Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System with innovations provided by others for farmers to adopt. The motivators for farmers who invent useful products for themselves, without outside involvement, are not well understood in such developed countries. These inventions, often shared with other farmers rather than introduced to the market, arise from a process of user innovation (von Hippel, 2005). This thesis examines Irish farmers’ motivators in the creation and subsequent sharing or commercialisation of farming artefacts. Their motivators are conceptualised from a sociological perspective, using Bourdieu’s theory of capitals (1986). Employing a multi- perspective research design, methods include a content analysis of 210 inventions, semi- structured interviews with key informants from innovation support organisations, and in-depth interviews with farmer-inventors. The findings indicate that most farmer-inventors get great personal satisfaction from problem-solving and, being generally without higher education, use their tacit knowledge to create inventions that increase efficiency as a means to improve family farm viability. Despite efficiency usually indicating skilful farming, Irish farmer-inventors are frequently derided by other farmers who deem their inventing to be culturally inappropriate. Farmer-inventors with entrepreneurial intentions, willing to withstand such hostility, face financial and temporal constraints, while the help offered by innovation support organisations is often inadequate. As a result, some inventions with commercial potential may never reach the market. Farmer-inventors who share their knowledge and inventions in social learning networks, similar to communities of practice, accrue social capital that leads to the emergence of a shared farmer-inventor identity. This thesis contributes to knowledge about user innovation in developed country agriculture by offering deeper understandings of farmer-inventors’ social, cultural, and economic processes. It proposes farmers to be an underappreciated source of knowledge and inventions, which offer low cost farm-level solutions to support family farm resilience. 3 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have received a great amount of support from many people in the last four years. I would firstly like to thank my supervisors at the Open University: Professor Andy Lane, Dr Chris High and Dr Rachel Slater, and in Teagasc: Dr Áine Macken-Walsh and Dr Kevin Heanue, for their unstinting encouragement and guidance. I’m grateful to Dr Martin Reynolds who was my Third Party Monitor. I would also like to acknowledge the funding from the Teagasc Walsh Fellowship Scheme. Gratitude goes to everybody at the Open University and Teagasc, especially the support staff and my fellow students, for their help and good cheer. Special thanks to the research participants for their time and enthusiasm. I am privileged to have been offered a glimpse of the farmer-inventors’ passion and talents. Much love to my family and friends, old and new, on both sides of the Irish Sea, who welcomed and supported me in too many ways to mention. I dedicate this thesis to my late parents, Nell and Gerry O’Flynn. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page number ABSTRACT 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 LIST OF TABLES 8 LIST OF FIGURES 9 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction 10 1.2 Research Context 11 1.3 Research Aim and Research Questions 15 1.4 Theoretical Framework and Research Design 17 1.5 Contribution to Knowledge 18 1.6 Thesis Structure 19 CHAPTER 2 – REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 2.1 Introduction and Key Definitions 22 2.2 The Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) 24 2.3 User Innovation 39 2.4 Farmers’ Knowledge and Social Learning 61 2.5 Sociological Motivators For Invention: Economic, Social, and Cultural 72 Capitals 2.6 Conclusions 84 CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction and Research Questions 86 3.2 Theoretical Framework 88 3.3 Research Design and Stage 1 – Researcher Orientation 93 3.4 Stage 2 - Content analysis 97 3.5 Stage 3 – Semi-Structured Interviews with Key Informants 106 3.6 Stage 4 – Narrative Interviews with Farmer-Inventors 110 3.7 Stages 5 and 6 – Interview Data Analysis and Participatory Data Testing 114 3.8 Validity and Reliability 116 3.9 Ethics 117 3.10 Researcher Reflexivity 121 3.11 Conclusion 124 CHAPTER 4 – CHARACTERISTICS OF FARMERS’ INVENTIONS 4.1 Introduction 125 4.2 Data Collection, Analysis, and Presentation 127 4.3 What do British Farmers Invent? 128 4.4 In Which Farm Enterprise did the Invention Arise? 130 4.5 Where are the Farmer-Inventors Located? 132 4.6 Farmers’ Inventions are Mainly Livelihood Related 134 4.7 The Direct Benefits Claimed for the Inventions 137 4.8 Free Sharing Of Inventions Through The Magazine 139 6 4.9 The Extent to Which Farmer-Inventors Work Alone 141 4.10 The Form and Effect of the Invention as a Design Improvement 143 4.11 Conclusions and Further Scoping 145 CHAPTER 5 – FARMERS’ MOTIVATORS FOR INVENTION 5.1 Introduction 148 5.2 Data Presentation and Farmer-inventors' Cameos 149 5.3 Farmer-inventors' Personal Values and Emotional Spurs 151 5.4 Economic Motivators and Commercialisation 157 5.5 Farmer-Inventors’ Identity, Knowledge, and the Social Repercussions of 165 Inventing 5.6 Conclusion 177 CHAPTER 6: FARMER-INVENTORS’ LEARNING NETWORKS 6.1 Introduction 179 6.2 Farmer-inventors’ Learning Networks and the Free Sharing of Inventions 180 6.3 Farmer-Inventors’ Relationships with the AKIS Organisations 191 6.4 The Farmers’ Approach to Inventing as a Design Process 202 6.5 Conclusions 207 CHAPTER 7 – DISCUSSION AND THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS 7.1 Introduction 209 7.2 Findings Summarised By Research Sub-Questions 209 7.3 Contributions to the Literature and Reflections on Theory 218 7.4 Conclusions 234 CHAPTER 8 – CONCLUSIONS 8.1 Introduction 237 8.2 Thesis Summary 237 8.3 Key Findings 238 8.4 Implications for Policy and Practice 242 8.5 Personal Reflections and Study Limitations 248 8.6 Suggestions for Further Research 250 8.7 Concluding Remarks 252 APPENDICES Appendix 1 – Project Update for Participants, July 2016 255 Appendix 2 – Content Analysis Coding Manual 258 Appendix 3 – Key Informant Interview Guide 262 Appendix 4 – Information Leaflet For Interview Participants 265 Appendix 5 – Consent Form for Interview Participants 267 REFERENCES 268 BIBLIOGRAPHY 288 7 LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Contrasting modes of innovation Table 2.2: Characteristics of four types of knowledge, at two levels, and their relation to other knowledge characterisations Table 2.3: Farm managers' highest training level, Ireland and EU-27, 2005 and 2010 Table 3.1: Main research question and sub-questions, with data categories and sources Table 3.2: Nature of content (latent or manifest) in content analysis variables Table 3.3: Research sub-questions covered in the content analysis Table 3.4: Key informant profiles Table 3.5: Farmer-inventor pseudonyms and key informant identity codes Table 4.1: Top three farm enterprises in which the invention arose, by year and all years combined Table 4.2: The farmer-inventor's location, by year and all years combined Table 4.3: Top three farming activities, by year and all years combined Table 4.4: Top three benefits, by year and all years combined Table 4.5: Free sharing of the invention, by year and all years combined Table 4.6: Does the farmer-inventor brings in outside help, by year and all years combined Table 4.7: Use of ICT, by year and all years combined Table 4.8: Design e2ffect, by year and all years combined Table 4.9: Form of the invention, by year and all years combined 8 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: The Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System “undergoing transformation” Figure 2.2: Overview of AKIS actors, Republic of Ireland Figure 2.3: Impressionistic view of linkages in the Irish AKIS Figure 2.4: the Double Diamond framework Figure 2.5: Heuristic for exploring the dynamic of transformational change, understood as changes in practices with changes in understanding Figure 3.1: Two themes emerging from the literature review Figure 3.2: Research stages with data sources and research methods Figure 3.3: Sequence of stages of data collection and analysis, including methods Figure 3.4: Relationship of the content analysis sample and pilot to the data population Figure 4.1: Farm enterprise in which the invention arose, all years combined Figure 4.2: The farmer-inventor’s location, all years combined Figure 4.3: Farming activity to which the invention relates, all years combined Figure 4.4: Inventions by farming activity and top five farm enterprises, all years combined 9 Chapter 1 – Introduction 1.1 Introduction In 1986, an Irish farmer invented a mechanical feeder that served warmed cow’s milk, on demand, to calves after weaning. He tested it on three farms and found that the health and weight gain of the calves improved when his feeder was used. He believed that the machine would be of benefit to other farmers, so he took it to his local dairy co-op and some government agencies. They were not interested; they either ignored his evidence or told him to go away and test the feeder with a larger sample under scientific conditions (Shutes, 2003, p. 68). This story resonated with me, when I came across it in 2012, as I completed my Master’s degree in Public Advocacy and Activism at the National University of Ireland, Galway. My thesis was on rural protest, looking at the relationship between identity-based and emotional factors and people’s motivations to mobilise.