MOVING WITH THE WEATHER: WEATHER-WAYS AND THE CONFIGURING OF CARE IN VINEYARD MANAGEMENT

Vaughan Higgins; Katherine Evans

Todos os Trabalhos

Trabalho

DOI

10.29327/9786527226680.1425808

Título do Trabalho

MOVING WITH THE WEATHER: WEATHER-WAYS AND THE CONFIGURING OF CARE IN VINEYARD MANAGEMENT

Autores

Vaughan Higgins
Katherine Evans

Modalidade

IRSA - Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (01/10/2025 a 20/01/2026)

Área temática

Sessão Especial

Data de Publicação

06/08/2026

País da Publicação

Brasil

Idioma da Publicação

pt-BR

Página do Trabalho

https://www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1425808-moving-with-the-weather--weather-ways-and-the-configuring-of-care-in-vineyard-management

ISBN

978-65-272-2668-0

Palavras-Chave

care, weather, vineyard management, disease prevention, Australia

Resumo

The notion of care is attracting growing attention in social science scholarship on farming and agriculture. While more-than-human entities are recognised as being central to enacting care practices, this has not yet extended to a consideration of atmospheric conditions or what is more widely referred to as ‘weather’. In this presentation, we utilise the concept of ‘weather ways’ to examine how weather contributes to the configuration of ‘good’ care in farming, and the implications of weather-care relations for farmer engagement in more environmentally sustainable farming practices. Drawing upon qualitative data from a project focused on trials for improving on-farm disease management in the Tasmanian (Australia) wine industry, we show that weather has a critical influence on care practices related to minimising disease risk and growing high quality ‘clean’ fruit. Farmers calibrate their vineyard management practices to anticipate seasonal variations, and they have well-established routines and repetitions for ensuring that practices for disease prevention are sufficiently adaptable to changes in weather. Significantly, we highlight the importance of what we term care infrastructures – vineyard canopy design and management – in enabling farmers to have greater control over sunlight, humidity and airflow through the vines. However, while weather is intertwined with practices of vine and vineyard care, our data show that these weather-care relations can pose challenges for farmer uptake of environmentally sustainable practices. Efforts to minimise disease and business risk linked to weather conditions and variability reinforces reliance on synthetic chemicals that farmers know from previous experience will be effective, hindering experimentation with ‘softer’ and more environmentally benign options.

Título do Evento: 16th World Congress of Rural Sociology and 64th Congress of the Brazilian Society of Rural Economics, Management and Sociology
Cidade do Evento: Porto Alegre
Título dos Anais do Evento: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA)
Nome da Editora: Even3
Meio de Divulgação: Meio Digital
DOI

Como citar

HIGGINS, Vaughan; EVANS, Katherine. MOVING WITH THE WEATHER: WEATHER-WAYS AND THE CONFIGURING OF CARE IN VINEYARD MANAGEMENT.. In: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA). Anais...Porto Alegre(RS) UFRGS, 2026. Disponível em: https//www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1425808-MOVING-WITH-THE-WEATHER--WEATHER-WAYS-AND-THE-CONFIGURING-OF-CARE-IN-VINEYARD-MANAGEMENT. Acesso em: 26/08/2026