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Weeding through the WWOOF network : the social economy of volunteer tourism on organic farms in the Okanagan Valley

University of British Columbia

This thesis is a critical ethnographic examination of the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) network in the Okanagan Valley. My research questions explore the motivations for farmer hosts and volunteer tourists to participate in WWOOF, and the outcomes of their participation. Based on my interpretations of the responses of the hosts and volunteers that I spoke with, as well as my own observations while visiting farms, I found that the contributions of WWOOFers on the farms in the Okanagan went beyond their helping hands or the learning opportunities implied by the arrangements being framed as work-learn farm visits. For hosts, labour needs were marginal compared to many other perceived benefits of hosting, with greater emphasis being placed on the benefits of having WWOOFers for the cultural exchanges, the opportunity to share their knowledge, and a desire to give back if they had WWOOFed themselves. Similarly, volunteers chose to WWOOF for various kinds of experiences the network offered outside of the aspect of learning about organic farming, primarily the idea that they were getting to know Canadians in a different way then other tourist experiences, as well as the benefits of immersion for learning English. Building on these findings, with a focus on both the ideological and practical elements of WWOOF, what I saw emerging were social economies that operated at the level of the farm, the host farm’s community, and at the broader level of the WWOOF network transnationally. The expansive organic consumer-base and infrastructural support already in place, such as farmers' markets, regulatory frameworks for production standards, and product availability in mainstream grocery stores have served the growing demand for organic foods. These structures, while criticized as diluting organic agriculture, could be utilized for implementing agendas that address issues of inequity in the food system. Considering these factors, I conclude my thesis with this proposal : that WWOOF, and the organic movement, have the potential to be powerful forces for greater social change and could be utilized to advance issues of social justice as they relate to food.

Text

2015-01-12

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/51888

Interdisciplinary Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCO

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/