@article{deviney_classen_bruce_2024, title={Pathways to sustainable transitions in a complex agricultural system: a case study of swine waste management in North Carolina}, volume={7}, ISSN={["2571-581X"]}, DOI={10.3389/fsufs.2023.1292326}, abstractNote={North Carolina has a high density of swine farms with nearly half of the commercial operations located in two eastern counties. Lagoon and sprayfield (LS) is the dominant method of swine manure management despite pressure to transition to environmentally superior technologies. LS is an efficient and cost-effective method of waste management but has negatively impacted the environment and local communities from both discreet events (breeches, flooding) and ongoing issues (odor, disease vectors). The Multilevel Perspective Theory (MLP) is a frame for understanding the relationships between a sociotechnical regime, its surrounding landscape, and emerging niches for sustainable technology development to help align these different levels of perspective and support transitioning toward more sustainable practices. Here, a farm level is added to represent the user perspective of regime technology in complex agriculture systems (MLP + F). We demonstrate how change may influence the North Carolina swine waste management (NC SWM) system through alternative scenarios applied to a conceptual model developed with the MLP + F frame in a methodology for analyzing complex agricultural systems with input from a diverse panel of experts. This case study demonstrates how the methodology can be applied through two NC SWM model scenarios analyzed with fuzzy cognitive mapping techniques. The first scenario explores whether panel recommended changes generate a shift toward sustainable manure management. Inference results suggest that experts have a broad understanding of how these goals may be achieved, but strategies are needed to enhance the specificity of proposed changes. Testing scenarios with more targeted interventions within specific subsystems could provide greater guidance with regard to policy, economic factors, farm practices, or societal demands. The second scenario considers the systemic effect of introducing a manure dewatering process on swine operations, with and without landscape support. Results from this scenario indicate that the more landscape support is engaged, the greater the impact on desirable outcomes. However, contradictions emerged between different versions of this scenario such as increased negative public perceptions despite positive community outcomes. This may require further investigation to tease out potential misalignment between perceptions of a complex system and actual system behaviors.}, journal={FRONTIERS IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS}, author={Deviney, Alison V. and Classen, John J. and Bruce, Jacklyn A.}, year={2024}, month={Jan} }
 @article{merck_grieger_deviney_marshall_2023, title={Using a Phosphorus Flow Diagram as a Boundary Object to Inform Stakeholder Engagement}, volume={15}, ISSN={["2071-1050"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511496}, DOI={10.3390/su151511496}, abstractNote={Phosphorus (P) is essential for life on Earth, yet its current management is unsustainable. Stakeholder engagement is urgently needed to help ensure that scientific and technical solutions to improve P sustainability meet the needs of diverse groups, yet there are comparatively few studies that provide insights into stakeholder views, perceptions, or concerns. In this opinion, we use a mass flow diagram of P as a boundary object to understand the complex challenges of sustainable P management. In particular, we map US stakeholder groups onto the mass flow diagram to incorporate human factors into mass flows at a national scale. Our approach is grounded in well-established social–scientific methodologies, such as stakeholder mapping and social network analysis, but is applied in a novel way that can be generalized to other mass flows and geographic areas. We then suggest ways that researchers can use the annotated flow diagram to identify both knowledge gaps and research gaps in stakeholder engagement, especially in interdisciplinary or convergence research contexts.}, number={15}, journal={SUSTAINABILITY}, author={Merck, Ashton W. and Grieger, Khara D. and Deviney, Alison and Marshall, Anna-Maria}, year={2023}, month={Aug} }
 @article{bird_nichols_garay_nowatzke_essary_post_deviney_welles_alao_dorbu_et al._2022, title={Means, motive, and opportunity}, volume={10}, ISSN={2325-1026}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2021.00066}, DOI={10.1525/elementa.2021.00066}, abstractNote={Wicked problems are inherent in food–energy–water systems (FEWS) due to the complexity and interconnectedness of these systems, and addressing these challenges necessitates the involvement of the diverse stakeholders in FEWS. However, successful stakeholder engagement requires a strong understanding of the relationships between stakeholders and the specific wicked problem. To better account for these relationships, we adapted a means, motive, and opportunity (MMO) framework to develop a method of stakeholder analysis that evaluates the agency of stakeholders related to a wicked problem in FEWS. This method involves two key components: (1) identification of a challenge at the FEWS nexus and (2) evaluation of stakeholder agency related to the challenge using the dimensions of MMO. This approach provides a method for understanding the characteristics of stakeholders in FEWS and provides information that could be used to inform stakeholder engagement in efforts to address wicked problems at the FEWS nexus. In this article, we present the stakeholder analysis method and describe an example application of the MMO method by examining stakeholder agency related to the adoption of improved swine waste management technology in North Carolina, USA.}, number={1}, journal={Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene}, publisher={University of California Press}, author={Bird, Kate I. T. and Nichols, Virginia A. and Garay, Eduardo S. and Nowatzke, Matthew and Essary, Ch’Ree and Post, Kimberly K. and Deviney, Alison V. and Welles, Jacqueline S. and Alao, Mumuni O. and Dorbu, Freda Elikem and et al.}, year={2022} }
 @article{welles_soriano_dorbu_pereira_rubeck_timmermans_ndayambaje_deviney_classen_koziel_et al._2021, title={Socio-Economic and Governance Conditions Corresponding to Change in Animal Agriculture: South Dakota Case Study}, volume={13}, ISSN={2071-1050}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su131910682}, DOI={10.3390/su131910682}, abstractNote={Understanding sustainable livestock production requires consideration of both qualitative and quantitative factors in a temporal and/or spatial frame. This study adapted Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to relate conditions of social, economic, and governance factors to changes in livestock inventory across several counties and over time. This paper presents an approach that (1) identified factors with the potential to relate to a change in livestock inventory and (2) analyzed commonalities within these factors related to changes spatially and temporally. This paper illustrates the approach and results when applied to five counties in eastern South Dakota. The specific response variables were periods of increasing, no change, or decreasing beef cattle, dairy cattle, and swine inventories in the specific counties for five-year census periods between 1992 and 2017. In the spatial analysis of counties, stable beef inventories and decreasing dairy inventories related to counties with increasing gross domestic products. The presence of specific social communities related to increases in county swine inventories. In the temporal analysis of census periods, local governance and economic factors, particularly market price influences, were more prevalent. Swine inventory showed a stronger link to cash crop markets than to livestock markets, whereas cattle market price increases associated with stable inventories for all animal types. Local governance tools had mixed effects for the different animal types across space and time. The factors and analysis results are context-specific. However, the process considers the various socio-economic processes in livestock production and community development applicable to agricultural sustainability questions in the Midwest and beyond.}, number={19}, journal={Sustainability}, publisher={MDPI AG}, author={Welles, Jacqueline S. and Soriano, Noelle Cielito T. and Dorbu, Freda Elikem and Pereira, G. M. and Rubeck, Laura M. and Timmermans, Erica L. and Ndayambaje, Benjamin and Deviney, Alison V. and Classen, John J. and Koziel, Jacek A. and et al.}, year={2021}, month={Sep}, pages={10682} }