Farming while green and Brown: A case study of beginning farmers of color in California

Our research consists of a case study supported by qualitative analysis of participant observation data gathered from our day-to-day experiences as beginning, small-scale farmers of color. Rather than prioritizing generalizability of results – as is typical of much quantitative scientific research – a qualitative case study employs context-dependent knowledge to develop theory (Flyvbjerg 2006). This approach is commonly utilized in the social sciences to offer fine-grained analyses of a phenomenon and we model our approach after SARE project LNC90-028. In our case, we utilize the case study approach to offer detailed insight into the challenges experienced by beginning farmers of color, as well as into the strategies utilized to overcome these challenges. With this approach, we aim to produce a case study of the challenges we experience that is directly accessible to other farmers. Our method follows what some scholars refer to as the “farmer-to-farmer” approach, in which farmers share their insights directly with their peers (Holt-Gimenez 2006). We expect this case study to document administrative activities (e.g., how we chose an online bank that did not charge a monthly fee, how we went about registering a company, how we wrote our business operation and planning document, what forms we filed with FSA and NRCS) as well as field activities (e.g., how we disked the land, how we conducted and interpreted soil and water tests, how we applied compost and cover crops). 

Research Objective 1: Conduct participant observation and collect ethnographic field notes daily to record the challenges we experience as we develop our farming operation.

Social scientists have long utilized “participant observation” as a data collection method in which the researchers observe the subject of research by participating directly in the action (Spradley 2016). In our case, we are interested in the experiences of beginning farmers of color – especially those working at a small-scale – as we/they struggle to develop a sustainable agricultural operation. Although scholars have conducted some research on this subject, often utilizing interviews with farmers, we intend to explore the struggles of beginning farmers of color by documenting our own experiences through participant observation. With this method, we observed and recorded our experiences daily using “ethnographic field notes.” Following Chiseri-Strater and Sunstein (1997), all field notes included not only facts about what happened, but also sensory impressions, personal responses and reflections, and questions for future investigation. Notes were recorded by each farmer on every day that farm-related work took place in a field journal.

Research Objective 2: Conduct bi-weekly analysis of field notes to identify emergent themes.

There are multiple strategies utilized in the social sciences to qualitatively analyze ethnographic field notes. For our project, we used an inductive approach to data analysis which allows for open-ended analysis. This approach differs from other qualitative analysis techniques in which the researcher codes for pre-determined themes. First, we read through our field notes and highlighted different processes. These processes were then grouped into categories, and finally into even broader themes (e.g. “acquiring field equipment” or “accessing capital”) (Saldaña 2021). This process took place bi-weekly in preparation for development of videos and blog posts (see “Educational Plan”).