The Agricultural Community as a Social Network in a Collaborative, Multi-Stakeholder Problem-Solving Process

Collaborative approaches are being promoted as inclusive forums for bringing state and non-state interests together to solve complex environmental problems. Networks have been recognized through previous research as important ways to involve stakeholders in such forums with members participating in knowledge creation and sharing as part of deliberative processes. Less well understood is the effectiveness of network creation and promotion by external actors, especially in relation to knowledge creation and sharing. A case study approach was used to evaluate the efforts of a farm organization to organize a provincially-cohesive network of locally-elected agricultural representatives in Ontario, Canada. In this paper, the Province of Ontario, Canada provides an empirical setting for evaluating the structure and function of a deliberately created network of locally elected farmers whose development was supported by a key provincial farm organization involved in collaborative processes for protecting drinking water sources