ABSTRACT
While the livelihoods of most people living in Majority Worlds are dependent on sustenance farming, only a marginal percentage of people in Minority Worlds earn their living through farming. We focus on the less discussed side of sustainability transformation in agriculture and consider how small-scale farmers in Minority Worlds subsist in the space provided by the existing policy landscape that favours large-scale centralised farming. Drawing from the ecological livelihoods framework, we ask: How do small-scale farmers make, receive, and provide a living? We explore the everyday life experiences of farmers and provide empirical examples from self-reliant small-scale farming in Finland. These types of farmers can be seen as pioneers due to their minimised dependency on fossil fuels, increased self-sufficiency, use of organic methods, and increased attention to ecological diversity and more-than-human animal welfare. We argue that a just sustainability transformation in agriculture cannot be achieved by transforming merely ecological practices as suggested by the dominant techno-scientific approaches. To recognise the everyday experiences of small-scale farmers and the diversity of their actions, we propose that making a living be understood beyond growth for exports and wage labour, receiving a living beyond subsidies and debt, and providing a living beyond monetary exchange and economic growth.
