5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

On-farm experimentation has long been considered central in understanding the trialability and therefore adoptability of new practices, innovations, or programs. The literature on on-farm experimentation is dominated by a focus on why farmers experiment, what they learn as part of the process of experimenting, the constraints and challenges they face, and the implications for changes in management decisions. However, to date, there has been little critical sociological analysis of the socio-material processes that make farmer experimentation knowable and workable, or what these engender for more sustainable agri-food futures. This session unpacks social and material relations through which on-farm experiments are assembled, the forms of power and resistance that these assemblages enact, and the implications for more resilient farms and policy interventions that encourage sustainability. We specifically invite papers that:

• Investigate the significance of on-farm experimentation in sustainable and socially just agri-food transitions.
• Investigate the tensions and trade-offs in how farmers and other stakeholders assemble on-farm experimentation to manage financial, environmental, and social goals/priorities.
• Provide detailed case studies of how on-farm experimentation is assembled within or across specific regions and/or industries.
• Explore the challenges and opportunities for integrating on-farm experimentation as part of policy and extension interventions that encourage sustainability.