Impact of Education on the agrarian future of farming

Keywords: Feminist Geography, Political Ecology, Agrarian Futures, Youth Aspirations, Education, Development Geography
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

India’s economic policy of liberalization in the early 1990s influenced the decline in economic viability of agriculture, as well as the increased employment opportunities in the urban core of the country. Despite greater enrollment in post-secondary degree programs, the attempts to ‘educate oneself out of agriculture’ have been futile, especially for marginalized communities. Although scholars have rigorously documented the dynamics of 'jobless growth', pursuits of higher education, and agrarian distress, there is surprisingly little research that connects these issues to investigate how education may shape the practices and future visions for agriculture. In this presentation, I show how cropping and labor patterns have shifted over the last twenty years from physically laborious subsistence crops (e.g., paddy, wheat, maize) to cash crops (e.g., chili, ginger, garlic) that require more 'work' from chemical inputs and less from human bodies. I argue that while a new class of educated young men are the drivers of this shifting agroecological landscape, these men and their practices have been relationally produced through a broader set of political ecological changes in the climate-sensitive, sub-Himalayan region of Himachal Pradesh. I use qualitative data to outline how uneven changes in water availability, transport infrastructure, and stable government employment opportunities are intertwined with the production of a new type of educated 'middle-class' agrarian subject. I conclude by reflecting on the implications of this new agrarian subjectivity for the politics and practices of agriculture in the region.