This paper draws on network science and uses a Social Network Analysis to improve our understanding of how the implementation of no-till in England is influenced by farmers' social networks. No-till is a low disturbance farming practice with potential to benefit soil health, the aquatic environment and farm economy, but is currently only implemented at a small scale in Europe. Interpersonal networks are important for farmers and influence farmer learning and decision-making and farmers often view each other as their main source of information. In this study, the social networks of 16 no-till farmers in England were mapped and semi-structured interviews carried out to assess the link between farmer network characteristics and the implementation of no-till in England. We also aimed to improve our understanding of the nature and extent of knowledge exchanged within farmer networks and their spatial and temporal dynamics. Our findings suggest that intermediary farmers had an important role in increasing the information flow and knowledge exchange between the different clusters of the no-till farmer network. These intermediaries were also the biggest influencers as they were often no-till farmers with a high level of experiential knowledge and viewed as important sources of information by other farmers. No-till farmer networks were geographically distributed as the farmers preferred to discuss farming practices with similar minded no-till farmers rather than local conventional farmers who did not understand what they were trying to achieve. Therefore, online communication platforms like social media were important for communication. We question the role of formal extension services in supporting farmers with innovative practices like no-till and suggest that advisors should strive to improve their understanding of these well-developed information networks to enable a more streamlined and efficient information diffusion.

中文翻译：

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农民社会网络在实施免耕农业实践中的作用

本文借鉴网络科学并使用社交网络分析来加深我们对英国免耕制度的实施如何受到农民社交网络影响的理解。免耕是一种低干扰农业实践，有可能有益于土壤健康、水生环境和农业经济，但目前仅在欧洲小规模实施。人际网络对农民很重要，影响农民的学习和决策，农民经常将彼此视为主要的信息来源。在这项研究中，英国 16 位免耕农民的社交网络被绘制出来，并进行了半结构化访谈，以评估农民网络特征与英格兰免耕实施之间的联系。我们还旨在提高我们对农民网络内知识交流的性质和范围及其时空动态的理解。我们的研究结果表明，中间农民在增加免耕农民网络不同集群之间的信息流和知识交流方面发挥着重要作用。这些中间商也是最大的影响者，因为他们通常是具有高水平经验知识的免耕农民，并被其他农民视为重要的信息来源。免耕农民网络在地理上是分布的，因为农民更喜欢与志同道合的免耕农民讨论农业实践，而不是不了解自己想要实现什么的当地传统农民。所以，社交媒体等在线交流平台对交流很重要。我们质疑正式推广服务在支持农民采用免耕等创新做法方面的作用，并建议顾问应努力提高他们对这些发达信息网络的理解，以实现更精简和更有效的信息传播。