ABSTRACT
This book brings together a collection of case studies highlighting contestation around everyday agronomic research in developing country contexts. In the opening chapter, we assert that the analysis of this contestation – which we term ‘political agronomy’ – is important because it can reveal the dynamics between the epistemic communities involved in and with agronomic research. These dynamics are becoming increasing discordant and conflicted, which has important implications for the methods, legitimacy and saliency of agronomic research. We build on these insights in this concluding chapter to argue that a ‘pathways approach’ – with a focus on directionality, distribution and diversity within the innovation processes supported by agronomic research – may be particularly valuable for political agronomy analysis.
