Exploring knowledge-cultures: precision farming, yield mapping, and the expert-farmer interface

Over recent years the concept of 'knowledge' in the singular has been incre asingly challenged by ideas of differentiated, contextualized 'knowledges'. In this paper we propose the concept of 'knowledge-cultures' as a way of e xploring the fluidity of diverse forms of knowledge and the rules, norms, a nd values that enable or constrain their production. Elaborating on Shotter 's idea of knowledge-from-within, we argue that knowledge-cultures are soci al achievements that equip those who embody them with a relational-responsi ve kind of understanding of events and surroundings built on multiple knowl edge-forms. To explore this contextual nature of knowledge-culture construc tion and illustrate our arguments, we draw on detailed empirical research o f farmers' experiences with the precision-fanning technique of yield mappin g in the English counties of Lincolnshire and Suffolk.