Ida Katrine Harboe Knudsen
Current Project


Ida Harboe Knudsen

Curriculum Vitae

Current Project


After Lithuania had declared its indepence in 1990, the Lithuanian government, within a short time span, had to make important decisions for the further development of the agricultural sector. The situation in Lithuania, as well as in other post-socialist countries, was without any historical precedents, a reason why the government could not draw on any experiences from other countries. The goal was clear: the agricultural sector of Lithania was to be privatized and the private farmer re-established. But how it should be done was far from clear. The outcome of the process reflected the experimental and confusing period of transition: only a few big and competitive farms were created, along with a multiplicity of family farms with small and fragmented land plots. The majority of these family farms had little if any machinery and small and diversified productions which by no means could meet international standards. Improvements were hindered by the absence of farming skills, lack of machinery and lack of money.


Milking cows is still manual
work for most farmers
As the time of EU accession in May 2004 grew closer the countryside became a highly important issue in political discourse, as agriculture always has been a key arena of EU politics. For the rural population the perception of the “global” market and EU standards of farming changed from mere abstractions to concrete factors of influences in daily life as they were introduced to new regulations and requirements set for farm products.
The EU evaluated the main problem for Lithuanian agriculture to be the many small farms which as a rule are run by elderly people close to or above the age of retirement. These farms are not geared towards fulfilling the production standards of the EU.

In opposition to the current state of things, the EU and the Lithuanian government aim at the establishment of a few big and competitive farms run by younger people. This means that a restructuring of the Lithuanian agricultural sector has started with great costs for the older generation of small farmers, a generation that dominates the agricultural sector.
Many small sources of income are of importance to the villagers. Here a family is engaged in honey production.
In my current research I focus on the transformative process of the Lithuanian agricultural sector in the years leading up to and since EU membership. The aim is to investigate the impact of institutional and legal changes initiated by EU agricultural programs for new member states on local rural daily life. I look at how political programs and EU legislations are implemented “below” and how local cultural models are transformed in the interaction with external influences. I thus consider how new legal influences are understood, reshaped and integrated into already existing modes of local regulation and practice and how it affects the economic and social situation for the farmers.
Taking a break from work. The anthropologist sits at the right side.
Property will be viewed as important to the research as it is central to the system of change. I will look into how people acquire, use and transfer property through the periods of legal changes. Furthermore I will pay attention to the importance of social security in daily life and which resources and strategies farmers make use of to secure their families with basic needs.

Thus, I will look at the social, economic and legal effects, intended and un-intended, of the restructuring of the national agricultural system and of EU-legislation.