Background
The modified-Delphi study was originally conceived of in the Spring of 2024 before the inception of COAR. It was a graduate research project by Kase Wheatley with guidance from Sonja Brodt, Vivian Wauters, Ryan Galt, Crystele Leauthaud, and later by Jennifer Sowerwine.
The intent of the delphi study was originally to gauge the status of socially and ecologically accountable research, extension, and education activities within the University of California, how respondents perceive their own work and their motivations for it, as well as to promote collaboration. This original framing of “social and ecological accountability” was in homage to UCD rural sociology professor Isao Fujimoto who in a 1976 publication, along with co-author Martin Zone, called for the UC to engage in rural development and agriculture which went beyond economic considerations. Socially and ecologically accountability has stood in as a replacement for “agroecology-oriented”.
After one month of working on this survey and creating a list of possible respondents by going through lab and department websites at the five Agriculture Experiment Station (AES) campuses –Berkeley, Davis, Merced, Riverside, and Santa Cruz– as well as county ANR offices, the research project was put on hold to apply for a Letter of Intent to UCOP which evolved into the MRPI proposal and now the COAR Transitions project.
Current state of the project + Future Directions+ Timeline
After many rounds/months of asking folks to fill out the survey, the Delphi currently has over 100 respondents and data analysis has begun with support and guidance from the team. Before iterating the survey into a second round and/or a focus group discussion, the plan is to analyze the spectrum of politics within the responses, the trends associated with respondents’ backgrounds and how they self-identify their work, “present absences” or underrepresentations in responses, as well as how all of this correlates with the type of change respondents conceptualize their work falling within (utilizing this analytical framework of the four dimensions of agroecological change, borrowed from the IPES Report, 2018).
Once the first round of data analysis is completed (hopefully by the end of 2025), aggregated results will be shared with the respondents and those who indicated that they would like to continue in the process will be asked to complete a follow-up survey and/or participate in a focus group.
Methods
The below graphic, from Lamoureaux et al., is the template for this delphi study process, however it is unclear how many rounds of survey and focus groups will take place at this point.
Lamoureaux, Y., Van Soelen Kim, J., & Koundinya, V. (2024)
Policy and equity-informed
A large impetus for this delphi survey was to think about the role and responsibility of researchers at the UC, a “land grab university” (Lee & Ahtone, 2020). To be more specific, the intention was to understand what is the current state of agricultural research, extension, and education and if this is seen as simply a scientific and technical endeavor or, if not, is there a broader project that is aligned with the “land grant mission” of doing work for the public good. I am particularly interested in connecting this work with that of the Agriculture Land Equity Task Force as well as UC ANR’s own initiative to promote accountability and partnership with Native American Communities. After the first round of data analysis is complete, I would hope to bring the work to these groups and/or work with these groups to help steep the next steps of the work
I see this work as building off of other projects that I have been involved with including the Reimagining the Land-Grant University effort at UC Davis (co-led by Beth Rose Middleton) which seeks to address historic injustice of the UC especially as it relates, but not limited to, the Indigenous peoples of California. If this work can continue to support agricultural research to broaden its scope beyond “feeding the world” and to incorporate more “social and ecological accountability”, I will be content. My hope is that by having these conversations and making visible the discourses and narratives that guide agricultural research, we may be able to start to shift the work itself.
Educational Integration
Another possible direction for the survey includes using this list as a means to gather and test ideas for the agroecology short course/workshop for technical assistance providers which Sonja Brodt is leading. Otherwise, new classroom curriculum could be created utilizing the results of this work as well as framing which led to its creation in the first place i.e. at the very least agroecology-oriented curriculum ought to be framed using Lee and Ahtone’s Land-grab University and exploring its implications for agriculture today.