Visions in agriculture

Based on theories of social movements, this article is an analysis of the visions of the Presidium of the Danish Agricultural Council, the umbrella organisation for farmers' organisations in Denmark. The research is inspired by Alain Touraine's interventionist sociology. The research shows that the presidium was strongly committed to a productivist worldview, i.e. that the objective is to increase production, lower production costs and get as high prices as possible. The co-operative history of Danish farming still played a role for the Presidium's worldview. They cherished the democratic procedures and institutions, but when there was an international merge the presidium did not wish to expand the privileges of membership to farmers in other countries. For Danish farmers the Presidium felt that the co-operative way of organising was superior both democratically and economically. The analysis of the Presidium's narratives showed that it can clearly state a problematic situation - the financial situation of the farmers - but because it cannot attribute this injustice to specific groups it is unable to create a strong narrative about the opponents and hence about how the unfair situation might be improved.