Climate Information Use

Abstract

This chapter employed an interdisciplinary attempt to investigate agricultural climate information use, linking sociology of translation (actor-network theory) and actor analysis premises in a qualitative research design. The research method used case study approaches and purposively selected a sample consisting of wheat growers of the Fars province of Iran, who are known as contact farmers. Concepts from Actor-Network Theory (ANT) have been found to provide a useful perspective on the description and analysis of the cases. The data were analyzed using a combination of an Actor-Network Theory (ANT) framework and the Dynamic Actor-Network Analysis (DANA) model. The findings revealed socio political (farmers' awareness, motivation, and trust) and information processing factors (accuracy of information, access to information, and correspondence of information to farmers' condition) as the key elements in facilitating climate information use in farming practices.