ABSTRACT
This chapter explores knowledge politics in development-oriented agronomy. It focuses on dominant framings and popular research themes: the rise of the new global food security agenda, which marks agronomy's renaissance and reframing as a global food security science; the framing and reframing of long-standing debates related to farm size and agronomic practices; questions over scales of analysis and the evolution from plot-based to place-based agronomy; and the growing influence of the New Public Management principles on agricultural research priorities and processes. The chapter suggests that development-oriented agronomy is at a critical juncture, facing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to re-imagine itself. Agronomy is increasingly operating in a space where uncertainty is large and the stakes are high, and where many opinions and ideas are heard – what Ravetz called 'post-normal science'. The basic principles of agronomy – including production ecology and the crop and soil sciences – are now well understood.
