1 The Perceptions of the Human-Nature Relationship among Organic Farmers in Minnesota 1 Milena Klimek, Bernhard Freyer, Rebecca Paxton University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Gregor Mendel Straße 33 A-1180 Wien, Österreich. Correspondence to: Milena.klimek@boku.ac.at Keywords: Organic farming, resilience, human-nature relationships Abstract Evidence suggests that organic farmers have clear views in how they speak about and practice their relationships with nature. We begin exploring this relationship through discussions with organic farmers about their reflections and practices of their individual human-nature relationships through three farmer focus groups in the Midwestern region of the US. In this preliminary paper, we identify the specific relationships between ethical frameworks and human-nature relationships, which we then correlate to farm resiliency practices. We conclude by suggesting what consequences this might have for individual farms as well as how to proceed with this study. Introduction Farmers interpret and construct their relationships with nature based upon the various values that they attach to nature (Glaeser, 2001). It is these relationships between humans and nature in which we explore among organic farmers in Minnesota. In an age of many disturbances, some of which are unprecedented in human history—i.e. climate change, resource shortage, and global financial crisis—organic farming, as a key proponent of the sustainability movement (Pugliese, 2001; Rigby & Caceres, 2001; Bellon & Lamine, 2009), needs to adjust to such change, also affecting smaller scales such as at the farm level, through cultivating resilience. Farmer practices—informed from a variety of influences including their ethical viewpoints—can influence the resilience of their individual farms by enhancing the ability of an organic farm to adapt to change without jeopardizing the organic system in play. In this article we therefore examine the importance of the various environmental ethical backgrounds of farmers, and how these backgrounds influence the practices and the reflections of organic farmers. In this paper we posit that farmer’s ethical views on nature influence their relationship with nature, in which this understanding ultimately affects the resilience of their individual farms. Organic agriculture can be expressed through understandings and practices in which the natural system (ecosystem) and the social system are related to each other (Brand & Jax, 2007). In order to recognize how these understandings between farmer and nature are expressed and what practices are taking place we identify organic farmers’ ethical views. In understand farmers’ human-nature relations resulting from their ethical views, we use their reflections and refer to their concrete practices. According to the preliminary framework we use in this paper, we accept normative values as part of what create these reflections and practices. We categorize their relationships by using practice theory 2 — focusing on daily routines and the reproduction of actions and reflections—which enable us to obtain empirical information on the relationship of 1 This work is in its preliminary stages, we hope that discussion will generate ideas and suggestions for analysis of a complete data set in a PhD project 2 Practice Theory, originally presented by Pierre Bourdieu has been recently tackled and expanded by a whole slough of interested parties, see additionally: (Giddens, 1987; Bourdieu, 1990) and (Reckwitz, 2002)