Kohti resurssitehokkuutta: miten koordinoida lannan kestävää käyttöä ja kierrätystä?

Abstract

Manure is an important resource for agricultural production. Differentiation of production and concentration
of manure on particular livestock farms and in certain regions have raised a concern over its sustainable
use. Policy programmes state that we need to use manure in a more resource-efficient way. We cannot,
however, assume that a change in practice or the introduction of new technologies would be simple or
painless. These always require establishing new relationships between different practices, actors, matters
and concerns. New links between agricultural and environmental policies should also be established. In this
article I examine how farmers and other concerned actors deliberate upon these demands. The exploration
is based on workshop discussions and interviews carried out along Paimionjoki, a river in south-west
Finland. In the analysis I draw attention to three qualitatively different ways of coordinating the sustainable
use of manure, which all translate manure as a different matter of concern. Depending on which matters are
emphasised the spatial and temporal scale of coordination changes, as does the role of technology within.
The results call for critical scrutiny of these entanglements. Alternative ways of co-ordinating manure use
do not only react to agricultural change, but take part in its development.