Engaged Graduate Student Grants
Farmers’ Perspectives on Waste, Water and Ways of Knowing
Examining the ways farmers collect, store and share knowledge about water and nutrient management
Farmers gather a wealth of local and specific knowledge through daily interaction with their land. Nevertheless, scientists, engineers and researchers often reduce farmer-held information to anecdotes, devaluing it as a potential source of research data. As a result, farmers’ voices are largely absent from the scientific process with regard to water quality and agricultural land management. In this project, Erin Menzies Pluer is partnering with Cornell Cooperative Extension associations of Cayuga and Tompkins counties to interview farmers about the ways that they collect, store and share information. With a better understanding of what farmers know and how they know it, scientists, engineers and researchers by be able to collaborate more effectively with farmers to solve some of our biggest water and nutrient problems.
Topics: Energy, Environment and Sustainability; Food and Agriculture
The Team
- Graduate student: Erin Menzies Pluer, biological and environmental engineering
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Special committee chair:
M. Todd Walter, Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
- Community partner: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County
- Community partner: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County