Rooted in grass: Challenging patterns of knowledge exchange as a means of fostering social change in a southeast Minnesota farm community

By convening a multidisciplinary team (the Monitoring Team) that included farmers, university and agency researchers, and non-profit staff; a small group of farmers in southeast Minnesota, U.S.A., bolstered the legitimacy of the sustainable agriculture movement. Through the experience of forming a team and working with individuals who operated within the mainstream knowledge paradigm, farmers gained validation of their knowledge about farming, while researchers came to value alternative knowledge systems. In the context of a socially embedded movement, farmers were empowered by sharing their knowledge with researchers, and ultimately contributed to the sustainable agriculture movement by challenging traditional patterns of knowledge exchange.