Fostering dialogue on health risks of intensive livestock farming in the Netherlands: Combining insights from conversation analysis with the mental model approach of risk communication
van Burgsteden, Lotte Eijrond, Valérie Claassen, Liesbeth Timmermans, Danielle
van Burgsteden, Lotte
Eijrond, Valérie
Claassen, Liesbeth
Timmermans, Danielle
Series / Report no.
Open Access
Type
Article
Language
en
Date of publication
2024-10-30
Year of publication
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Title
Fostering dialogue on health risks of intensive livestock farming in the Netherlands: Combining insights from conversation analysis with the mental model approach of risk communication
Translated Title
Published in
NJAS-Imp Agr Life Sc 2024; 96(1)2420804
Abstract
This article presents a synopsis of the findings from two PhD projects that investigated perceptions of and discussions on the health risks of intensive livestock farming (ILF) in the Netherlands. We combined analyses of real-life interactions in public meetings between neighbouring residents, farmers, experts, and officials with investigations of stakeholders’ perceptions of the risks of ILF through interviews and a survey. Our analyses of the interactions in public meetings demonstrated that neighbouring residents and farmers did not accept the rules or norms set by experts and officials, thereby (indirectly) demanding that their perspectives be taken more seriously. In this way, they implicitly raised broader relational issues with the government. The results from the interviews and survey explained the interactional tensions identified in these meetings, as they revealed the significant differences in perspectives among neighbouring residents, farmers, and experts regarding ILF. The paper also discusses how combining these analyses can provide practical insights into enhancing and facilitating dialogue between the various stakeholders, and we discuss the dialogue training we developed for this purpose. Finally, we outline the study’s theoretical and practical implications for addressing “wicked problems” – complex, difficult-to-define issues with no clear solutions – and for advancing scholarship in risk communication.