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Open Source
Agriculture
Grassroots Technology
in the Digital Era
Chris Giotitsas
Palgrave Advances in Bioeconomy: Economics and
Policies

Series Editor
Justus Wesseler
Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy Group
Wageningen University
Wageningen, Gelderland, The Netherlands
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/16141
 Chris Giotitsas

Open Source
Agriculture
Grassroots Technology in the Digital Era
Chris Giotitsas
Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation
and Governance
Tallinn University of Technology
Tallinn, Estonia
P2P Lab
Ioannina, Greece

ISSN 2524-5848     ISSN 2524-5856 (electronic)

Palgrave Advances in Bioeconomy: Economics and Policies
ISBN 978-3-030-29340-6    ISBN 978-3-030-29341-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29341-3

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
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This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Acknowledgements

I wish to thank all the participants of this research who graciously allowed
me to join them in their fascinating activities and took time off their busy
schedules to offer valuable insight and genuine hospitality. It is my great-
est concern to provide an accurate account of their experience and values.
More specifically, I wish to thank Julien Reynier and Dorn Cox for their
thoughtful guidance before and during my field work in France and the
US respectively.
I also wish to thank my P2P Lab family, and especially Vasilis Kostakis,
for their love, support and inspiring work all these years.
I acknowledge funding from the School of Business (University of
Leicester) as part of the PhD programme and financial support from the
European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon
2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 802512).

v
 Contents

1 Introduction  1

2 How I Researched This 11

3 Social Movements as Technology Developers 17

4 Open Source Agriculture: A Social Movement? 25

5 Technology Matters 69

6 Open Source Agriculture: An Alternative Technological

Trajectory? 87

7 Beyond Open Source Agriculture133

Appendix141

Index143

vii
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Abstract This introductory chapter offers the author’s motivation for

writing this book and sets the framework with which he set about doing
his research after he offers a brief account on the evolution and state of
commercial agriculture today within the capitalist mode of production. It
provides a definition for the concept of open source agriculture and how
it is viewed as both a social movement and a technology development
model within the context of this book.

Keywords Open source agriculture • Social movement • Technology

I have spent most of my life (so far) in and around a farm in one of the
most remote and poor areas of Greece. Being surrounded by farmers and
people working in the primary and basic construction sector, I had not
appreciated the ingenuity and collaborative effort these people put in
their day to day activities to achieve sustainability. It was not until I spent
several years away from my family home that it dawned on me how
uncritically immersed urbanised societies were in the technology they
are handed.
I had always been enamoured with information and communication
technologies. I was experimenting with free and open source software and
tinkering with hardware to get my work done affordably and to have

© The Author(s) 2019 1

C. Giotitsas, Open Source Agriculture, Palgrave Advances in
Bioeconomy: Economics and Policies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29341-3_1
2 C. GIOTITSAS

some control over the digital technologies I have been using. But I came
to understand that open source is something beyond an efficient approach
to hi-tech. It is a social movement.
Openness, sharing resources and other terms like these are used today
to add a “sexiness” factor to products or institutions that do not deserve
the name. This has led to the term “openwashing” (borrowed from “gre-
enwashing”) to call out this trend. Similarly, participatory or user-driven
design, co-creation or co-construction and other concepts have been pro-
posed to include the public or at least some diversity of stakeholders in the
technology development. However, such initiatives, mostly externally
driven, are often organised top-down and do not essentially involve citi-
zens. Hence, the dichotomy is maintained between expert and layman
ignoring the social complexities of stakeholder engagement.
This book explores those initiatives that have been self-mobilised from
within farmer communities, in a bottom-up fashion, and are engaging in
technology development for the community itself. The practical lessons
learned from this research project are being applied in our efforts to pro-
vide the local community, where I grew up, with the tools to formulate an
effective organisation similar to the ones I discuss here.
This book explores technology designed and produced by farmers to
accommodate their particular needs. I trace the emergence of a new social
movement that facilitates and promotes this type of technology. I thus
discuss two case studies of social movement organisations and their tech-
nological communities: the Farm Hack network in the USΑ and the
L’Atelier Paysan initiative in France. The focus is on how they frame their
activities and how this translates in the alternative technology develop-
ment model. I use the following conceptual tools: framing analysis and
resource mobilisation theory from the social movement research field, and
the constructivist approach and critical theory of technology from the
technology research field.
This book illustrates how individuals refuse to embrace a technological
system of mainstream agriculture that does not reflect their values and
interests, and instead rely on alternative framings of technological culture
to give meaning to their vision of how agriculture should be. By doing so,
I address a novel collaborative mode of technology production, substan-
tially different from the dominant market-driven one.
I employ the concept of the social movement to describe this collective
activity, albeit in an early stage. This enables the tracing of the various
ideological frames that contribute to the creation of a common set of
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

­ rinciples and goals for those engaging in this activity as well as their
p
efforts to gain support. That is why framing analysis has been selected as a
key theoretical approach, combined with an investigation of the incentivis-
ing and resource management processes within the movement
organisations.
I also examine the details of the production process in the broader
sociotechnical environment. I argue that this emerging mode of produc-
tion signals a break from the capitalist mode of technology production and
formulates a more democratised alternative.

1.1   Technology and Conventional Agriculture

The shift from feudalism to capitalism and the start of the land enclosures
along with colonialism marked the transformation of agricultural produc-
tion. The capitalist system evolved alongside agricultural activity, influenc-
ing how production took place and, thus, marking a gradual shift from
subsistence to commodity production (Brenner 1976; Albritton 1993).
While peasants were transformed into labour workers to feed the industrial
revolution, machinery and modernised farming techniques, which
increased productivity and yields, were introduced to feed. All economic
activity became driven by capital accumulation, labour exploitation and
escalating competition (Wood 1998). This sparked the accumulation of
land and great centralisation of production in large farms, where former
peasants became waged labourers (Federici 2004). The capitalist produc-
tion took not only land from peasants but also the soil itself, meaning the
fertility of the land due to overproduction, initiating the need for modern
farming methods (Marx 1999).
The competitive environment substantially transformed agriculture and
enabled the rise of “agribusiness” (Davis and Goldberg 1957). This term
was introduced in 1957 to characterise the infiltration of the industrial
sector in agriculture. Intensive industrial agriculture and proprietary tech-
nology captured more and more traditional practices from farmers, ini-
tially with mechanical inputs that favoured large-scale production (Gifford
1992) and later with chemical and biological ones (Lewontin 1998). This
led to the cannibalisation of farms by competitors, who were more adept
at the “technology treadmill” (Cochrane 1993), and to the massive expan-
sion of the agribusiness sector. The industries introduced large, complex
and expensive motorised machinery that multiplied productivity. The
treadmill was initiated and farms were forced to keep upgrading into new
4 C. GIOTITSAS

inputs to be able to compete (Mazoyer and Roudart 2006). The process

of capturing expanded into new methods of farming with the introduction
of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and growth hormones but also proprie-
tary, genetically modified seeds, replacing free knowledge and techniques
developed and tested by farmers over centuries.
Capitalist accumulation takes place through exclusionary intellectual
property licenses and the creation of artificial scarcity. This is justified with
the claim that intellectual property rights create incentives for economic
agents to pursue the research and development of new products and ser-
vices (Arrow 1962). Intellectual property in agriculture is manifested in all
stages and dominates over farmer-developed options. For instance, pat-
ents for plants were issued and the International Union for the Protection
of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) was established. Traditional farmer
varieties failed to meet the criteria for protection and over the years were
replaced by proprietary ones. The advances in bioengineering in the 1990s
spread intellectual property licences drastically (Lewontin 1998), enforc-
ing restrictions not only in specific plants but also in certain traits, genes
and even methods that were manufactured in labs (Aoki 2009).
The outcome of this enclosure process has been the tremendous
agriculture-­ related technological concentration in the hands of a few
mega-corporations. According to a report (2013) by the ECT (Erosion,
Technology and Concentration) group, the world’s top three companies
control 53% of the global commercial seed market and the top ten control
76% (meaning the seeds that are sold which excludes seeds developed and
exchanged by farmers). Moreover, six companies account for 76% of the
global agrochemical market; ten pesticide firms hold about 95% of the
global market; ten firms control 41% of the global fertiliser market; three
companies account for 46% of the animal pharmaceuticals market and
seven firms control 72%. Finally, four companies account for 97% of poul-
try genetics, and another four account for 66% of swine genetics. As far as
mechanical inputs are concerned, concentration is continually rising with
four companies controlling 50% of the global market by 2009 and eight
companies controlling more than 60% (Fuglie et al. 2011). Meanwhile, by
2008 five companies held 90% of the global grain trade, three countries
produced 70% of maize and the 30 largest food retailers accounted for
33% of world grocery sales (McMichael 2009).
The starting points for oppositional activities have been at least two.
First, the notion that conventional agriculture presents severe challenges
to small-scale farmers. Second, the technology model supporting it has
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

removed the farmers from the creative process of developing artefacts

­supposed to accommodate their activity, largely ignoring their empirical
input and desires.
Mumford (1964) claimed that there are two parallel sets of technology:
one authoritarian and one democratic. The former is system-centred and
powerful but also unstable. It is centralised, large-scale and with a high
degree of specialisation that turns humans into resources. While this sys-
tem has been around for centuries, it has infiltrated modern society to
such a degree because it seemingly accepts the basic principle of democ-
racy. Its products are equally available to anyone who can afford them.
However, one can only take what the system offers. The latter set is
human-centred, based in craft and agricultural communities whose activ-
ity is, while limited, adaptable and durable. This type of technology, char-
acterised by creativity and autonomy, is developed to address specific social
needs through appropriate means.
Such a distinction, simplistic and wide open to criticism as it may be,
builds a framework to explore the potentialities of an alternative techno-
logical strand. I look into initiatives that formulate a new social move-
ment; whose goal is to promote open source technology developed by its
users in agriculture against the perceived authoritarian version of the agri-
cultural system. I thus examine the political, economic, ethical and cul-
tural stimuli behind their technological development as opposed to the
economic-political agenda of the agribusiness sector.

1.2   Conceptualising Open Source Agriculture

as a New Social Movement

I study initiatives that consist of small-scale and organic farmers, adherent

designers and engineers, and activists, who oppose the socioeconomic and
technological aspects of conventional agricultural production but also its
other, more severe, consequences. For instance, its environmental impact
due to the large-scale methods employed and the reliance on fossil fuel
resources (Tilman 1999); the significant reduction of biodiversity (Biao
et al. 2003); the great increase in energy requirements (La Rosa et al.
2008) and the depletion and contamination of water (Brown 2004).
These open source initiatives are collaboratively designing and manufac-
turing their tools and machines to address their needs. Using modern
information and communication technologies (hereafter ICT), the designs
6 C. GIOTITSAS

for these pieces of technology are made available for anyone to adopt and
adapt to their needs.
This activity, which I call open source agriculture, is discussed in the
context of an emerging social movement, and it is the primary focus of
this book. This treatment allows me to make sense of the breadth of fac-
tors that affect the development process as well as their output. Because
if we are to call the aggregation of initiatives producing open source
technology for agriculture an emerging social movement, then we may
contextualise it within social movements that came before it. That is to
locate commonalities and trace linkages as well as the values and ethics
they embody in a structured way. It also allows the investigation of ini-
tiatives as social movement organisations, which seek to secure and dis-
tribute resources necessary for their operational activity, as well as
provide adherents with incentives that correspond to their specific inter-
ests and values to elicit participation. I explore the creative capacity of
the movement that goes beyond opposition and the organisational par-
ticularities that facilitate it, focusing on the technology development
processes.

1.3   Formulating a Technology Development

Model from within the Movement
This new social movement is identified as technology-oriented with the
focus placed on the mode of technology production that emerges from
within its activity. When reviewing the progress of technology on a grander
scale, the complexity of the issue makes discerning a pattern that clearly
explains the evolution of technological development tricky. Instead, we
should look back in history to establish what social circumstances lead to
certain technological outcomes. For instance, the fall of the guild system
at the end of the eighteenth century and the rise and struggle to maintain
control in capitalist production is what defines the conditions for techno-
logical development until today (Feenberg 2002). While the change looks
quantitative and technical at first look, a profound qualitative change,
which was a necessary condition for industrialisation, also took place in
work, design, management and conditions with the main feature being
the deskilling of workers (Ibid.). If guilds had managed, instead, to evolve
into worker-driven manufacturing facilities, the nature of technological
development would have been different.
 1 INTRODUCTION 7

The transition to the capitalist economic system of production brought

about a radical change in the way technology is developed by transferring
control from the craftsman to the owners of productive resources and
managers (Feenberg 2010a). Technical values, experience gained and les-
sons learned from using technologic artefacts were no longer feeding back
into the development of technology. While the technology expert and the
user would interact closely before, in capitalist production, their connec-
tion has been largely severed (Feenberg 2010b). Therefore, the conse-
quences that escaped the scope of profit from newly developed technology
became irrelevant.
Herbert Marcuse criticised the technological rationality developed by
technoscientific management that proliferates in capitalism despite its
apparent irrationalities (Marcuse 1970). This rings true in the agricultural
context, where industrialisation has had an enormous impact. These irra-
tionalities are the starting point for critique, which, if followed by the
establishment of a new historical subject (a vague notion understood as a
catalyst or agent), may progressively, despite limitations, lead to transfor-
mation (Marcuse 1970).
Due to its characteristics, peer-produced open source technology, as
presented in the following chapters, could form such a subject pushing for
technology that breaks free from the capitalist framework. It presents a
possible bottom-up alternative for citizen inclusion in the development
process of technology. An alternative that goes beyond the arguably suspi-
cious populist appropriation of the language of “participation” from the
political and scientific elites (Thorpe 2008; Levidow 2007). Open source
technology can be viewed as subject to reconstruction and democratic
participation, enabling people “to participate effectively in a widening
range of public activities” (Feenberg 2002, p.3). It also echoes Gorz’s
(1983) argument that decentralised productive infrastructures, focusing
on the development of locally controlled technologies, are vital for democ-
ratising decision-making.
In this vein, I use as a starting point those independent initiatives that
already engage individuals in the co-creation of technological artefacts.
Their experience can, potentially, provide valuable insight in the theoris-
ing of democratisation of technology in general and “socially inclusive”,
“participant driven”, “grassroots” development more specifically rather
than attempting to explore this activity through conventional top-down
means and institutions.
8 C. GIOTITSAS

Up to this point, the development process of open source technology

has been researched marginally. Most available studies have focused on the
characteristics and development models of open source software. This
book uses these theoretical approaches to formulate a robust theoretical
and practical underpinning for technology development. The collective
framing within the movement provides the foundation for the technologic
development process and artefacts produced. The goal is not only to
understand the process through which this technology is produced,
regarding the interests or goals of those involved, but also to look at the
effect of the broader economic and cultural factors.

1.4   Book Structure

Chapter 2 presents the research methodology as well as the data gathering
and analysis processes for the book. I outline the methods used to gather,
process and present my data. Hence, the readers not interested in methods
may skip this chapter.
Chapter 3 reviews the relevant social movement theories focusing on
the resource mobilisation and the framing theories, used in this book. Of
interest is the role of social movement organisations and selective incen-
tives for participation in social movements since material artefacts are
developed as part of the movement activity examined here. The framing
activities that social movements engage in are pertinent in the context of
wider master frames.
Chapter 4 examines the master frames identified as the main contribu-
tors to the creation of the open source agriculture movement. Specifically,
the organic, peasant and open source frames are synthesised to understand
what motivates the adherents of the movement to engage in the produc-
tion of technological artefacts. Moreover, I review both social movement
organisations through the resource mobilisation viewpoint and examine
the material factors affecting this process.
Chapter 5 discusses the technology theory applied in the book. I
emphasise the technological frames as tools of the social constructivism of
technology school of thought and the application of the social movement
analysis output in the technological analysis. Emphasis is also placed on
the critical theory of technology that provides a normative perspective in
technological development emerging from the juxtaposition of the tech-
nological actors and modern large-scale agribusiness.
 1 INTRODUCTION 9

Chapter 6 addresses the two cases, this time under the technology the-
ory lens. Firstly, I explore the various aspects of activity, such as their
organisational and economic models formulated to support technological
development. Secondly, I apply social construction and critical perspec-
tives to study the technological development process in the micro and
macro level, respectively.
Chapter 7 provides a vision for an alternative technological rationale
emanating from this and other technological social movements. I argue
why and how this emerging mode of production should and could
expand globally.

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Studies, 20(3), pp. 419–441
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Source Seeds, and Acknowledging User Innovation in Agriculture”, Fordham
Law Review, 77, pp. 2276–2310
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Invention”, in Arrow, K. (ed) The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity:
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pp. 609–625
Biao, X., Xiaorong, W., Zhuhong, D. and Yaping, Y. (2003) “Critical Impact
Assessment of Organic Agriculture”, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental
Ethics, 16(3), pp. 297–311
Brenner, R. (1976) “Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-­
Industrial Europe”, Past & Present, 70, pp. 30–75
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Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures, New York: W.W. Norton
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Davis, J.H. and Goldberg, R.A. (1957) A Concept of Agribusiness, Boston: Division
of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University
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New York: Oxford University Press
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Feenberg, A. (2010a) “Ten Paradoxes of Technology”, Techne, 14(1), pp. 3–15

Feenberg, A. (2010b) Between Reason and Experience, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Fuglie, K.O., Heisey, P.W., King, J.L., Pray, C.E., Day-Rubenstein, K.,
Schimmelpfennig, David, Wang, S. Ling and Karmarkar-Deshmukh, R. (2011)
“Research Investments and Market Structure in the Food Processing,
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La Rosa, A.D., Siracusa, G. and Cavallaro, R. (2008) “Energy Evaluation of
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Levidow L. (2007) “European Public Participation as Risk Governance: Enhancing
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Lewontin, R.C. (1998) “The Maturing of Capitalist Agriculture: Farmer as
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Marcuse, H. (1970) Five Lectures, Beacon
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 CHAPTER 2

How I Researched This

Abstract This brief chapter expands on the methodology devised for this
research project, its specificities and limitations. It also discusses how
diverse sets of data were collected, examined and presented. It then sets
the blueprint for how the rest of the book is structured according to the
two theoretical lenses adopted. Namely, social movement theory and tech-
nology studies approaches which are used to synthesise a way to explore
different sets of value in alternative technological trajectories.

Keywords Research design • Embedded case study • Data analysis

I discuss open source technology development as an alternative technol-

ogy built on an alternative set of values. To explore how this technological
trajectory can manifest, I focus on agriculture by borrowing a social move-
ment theory approach and applying it on technology theories. I, thus,
identify the political identity and collective action plan, formulated
through the values, goals and interests of the open source agriculture
movement. Meaning the aggregation of individuals, organisations and
communities, mostly comprised of farmers, who contribute to the devel-
opment of machines and tools for farming. The design and know-how of
these tools are made freely available without restrictions preventing their
reproduction. Such activity takes place in various productive fields, yet its

© The Author(s) 2019 11

C. Giotitsas, Open Source Agriculture, Palgrave Advances in
Bioeconomy: Economics and Policies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29341-3_2
12 C. GIOTITSAS

application in this open source agriculture movement provides one of the

most mature instances of open source technology besides software.
An embedded case study approach has been adopted to gather and
analyse empirical data, to examine individual cases separately but also as
part of a larger case. Therefore, the overarching case, open source agricul-
ture, is examined through two subunits of analysis, which provide diverse
data for the analysis of the main case (Yin 2003). Engaging in purposive
sampling and specifically criterion sampling (Palys and Atchison 2008),
the cases I chose are non-profit social movement organisations and their
respective communities. Those are L’Atelier Paysan, a cooperative in
France that is developing farmer-driven technologies and practices, and
Farm Hack, a community of farmers promoting open source tools and
machinery designed and developed following the open source principles,
in the USA.
Out of the various actors in this movement, these have been selected
due to the collaborative and self-mobilised nature of tool development
within their rather large communities. Meaning projects that have been
initiated by those within farming communities with a goal to develop and
disseminate technological solutions that would primarily benefit the com-
munity. Initiatives by external organisations like state agencies, research
institutions and social enterprises were reviewed but rejected on that basis.
That is not to suggest that such projects could not qualify as important for
this type of research project. But merely to provide some focus for
this book.
Furthermore, I focus on the European and USA regions, mostly due
to resource limitations. That does not mean that there are no noteworthy
projects in other regions. For instance, the Honey bee network in India,
a project initiated by a researcher rather than self-mobilised, promotes
technology for poor rural areas that would, potentially, fit in the context
of the book. While similarities with the projects selected are significant,
each is defined by a unique mixture of local economic, political and cul-
tural characteristics shaping their actions, goals, values and interests. In
this regard, beside practical reasons, those two cases were selected to
limit the scope of the book even further into the “western world” and
allow for an in-depth as well as comparative examination of the selected
cases. No doubt further research that would include initiatives from non-
western countries would provide much richer insight in the phenome-
non studied.
 2 HOW I RESEARCHED THIS 13

I have managed to secure access through key individuals from both

cases which should be viewed mostly as key informants and not as
­gatekeepers, since despite their varying organisational structures, this type
of initiatives avoid rigid hierarchical structures and instead adopt a
consensus-­driven decision-making system based on mutual validation and
meritocracy. This bottom-up approach has previously been described as
peer governance (Bauwens 2005). Therefore, these first contacts function
primarily as conduits to the rest of the members of each case as well as for
further information regarding field work.

2.1   How I Collected Data

I conducted semi-structured interviews with members from each case.
Further participant observation was employed, where interaction with
members of each case took place on-site to immerse myself and attain a
clearer picture of the internal structure and processes of the groups
observed. Prominent members within these cases have been identified
during the observations and targeted for interviews, while more were
secured through snowballing. The latter aimed for those with long stand-
ing participation in the organisations and/or particularly interesting per-
spectives in the context of this book.
The interviews were structured around specific core questions and
probes that attempted to elicit important data regarding their goals,
desires and ideologies as well as their coordination and development
methods. These, in practice, were mostly indicative however and were
used to place emphasis on the questions that were deemed most relevant
during the design process of this research project. Some topics were of
more interest than others to interviewees so they elaborated as they
pleased, revealing more interesting questions which I had not previously
considered. Furthermore, some interviews took place on site so the sur-
roundings coloured the flow of the discussion.
A detailed list of the interviewees whose names have not been ano-
nymised can be found in the appendix. In fact, none of the people I spoke
to had any desire to be anonymous. This whole book is about open access
to information and knowledge after all. They even signed a relevant form
when the interviews took place as part of my PhD work. However, to have
this work published as a book required a second round of (more demand-
ing) consent forms signed, as well as several other forms for the pictures I
14 C. GIOTITSAS

took during data gathering (which include not only people but also
things). Given the fact that many of the interviewees are farmers and not
easy to reach as well as the potential and obvious ideological clash means
that the visual material had to be removed and some of the respondents
anonymised. The irony, of course, is not lost on me but let that be a fur-
ther comment on how the current socio-economic system treats access to
information.
Field observations took place in various sites, including workshops,
events and organisation bases of the cases. During those I managed to wit-
ness the groups’ interactions and activities as well as interact with them. I
travelled in France in various occasions during the spring and summer of
2016. There, I participated in two machine prototyping workshops,
attended a three-day gathering/festival and spent some time in the opera-
tional base of the organisation. The USA case field work took place over a
two-week period in various locations in the states of New York, Vermont,
New Hampshire and Massachusetts in December 2016. In this trip, I vis-
ited farms, attended a prototyping workshop and a farmer tool summit
sponsored by the organisation under examination.
In both cases, I had the opportunity to converse with numerous farm-
ers and other individuals involved in the movement as well as observe (and
sometimes assist with) the work and general interaction around tool devel-
opment. On some occasions, I had the privilege to be invited into their
homes and share food and stories. Even so, a large part of the activity in
this type of initiatives is distributed with their community members widely
dispersed in their respective regions (as well as internationally) with much
taking place online.
Last, I gathered data from the online platforms, fora, discussion sec-
tions and documentation (audio-visual material, reports, articles, blog
posts) available as well as email communications with individuals from
each case. Given the fact that openness is a principle permeating such ini-
tiatives, there are rich and diverse sources available for the mining of
research data. Like the interviews, key documents and discussions have
been selected that provide the most insight in each case. In other words,
those that provided details on the intricacies of the technology develop-
ment model as well as insight on what motivates participants.
 2 HOW I RESEARCHED THIS 15

2.2   How I Analysed Them

The data are analysed under two thematic lenses. Firstly, they are reviewed
under the social movement theories that inform their review under the
technology theories, leading to a synthesis of the two. Each case is also
examined individually and in tandem.
This sequential process is elaborated upon in the following chapters
after the presentation of the theoretical approaches and conceptual tools.
However, every step follows an iterative approach which attempts to
include the participants’ input in the whole undertaking. Jack Kloppenburg
and others point out that the conceptual framing of alternative agriculture
in academic research is primarily “based on the reflections of academics
and policy specialists rather than on the views of sustainable producers”
(2000, p.178), which, despite being valuable, may ignore the diverse
empirically developed reflections of those involved in the movement.
Similarly, within the wider discussion about the democratisation and
assessment of technology development, the language of “participation”
and “engagement” has been widely appropriated by political elites as an
attempt to avoid criticism, while academic research has often focused on
the introduction of novel institutional arrangements (like citizen forums)
to tackle the issue than critically challenging the dichotomy between
expert and lay participation (Thorpe 2008; Brown 2009; Levidow 2007).
The above indicates the limited empirically grounded research that
adopts a bottom-up and inclusive framing of participatory technology
development. This book is an attempt to bring forth the perspectives of
those engaged in the development of technological artefacts for the agri-
cultural production sector while being the ones working with these arte-
facts bridging knowledge, values and skill. To articulate their alternative
conceptualisations of technology, the chapters presenting my empirical
work heavily feature their voices rather than just mine. Additionally, analy-
sis in the technology section (Chaps. 5 and 6) takes place in two levels.
The ground level, which explores the interactions within the community,
and a macro level, which evaluates the impact of socio-economic forces in
both cases based on insight provided by critical theories of technology.
Chapters 3 and 5 establish the necessary framework, from a social
movement and technology perspective, while Chaps. 4 and 6 provide the
analysis respectively. In this sense, this current chapter does not offer a
comprehensive description of how the data are analysed but rather a guide
for how this research project is structured.
16 C. GIOTITSAS

Bibliography
Bauwens, M. (2005) “The Political Economy of Peer Production”, CTHEORY,
Available at: http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=499, accessed 7
September 2008
Brown, M. (2009) Science in Democracy: Expertise, Institutions and Representation,
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Kloppenburg, J., Lezberg, S., De Master, S., Stevenson, G. and Hendirckson, J.
(2000) “Tasting Food, Tasting Sustainability: Defining the Attributes of an
Alternative Food System with Competent Ordinary People”, Human
Organisation, 59(2), pp. 177–186
Levidow L. (2007) “European Public Participation as Risk Governance: Enhancing
Democratic Accountability for Agbiotech Policy?”, East Asian Science,
Technology and Society: An International Journal, 1(1), pp. 19–51
Palys, T. and Atchison, C. (2008) Research Decisions: Quantitative and Qualitative
Perspectives, Toronto: Thomson Nelson
Thorpe, C. (2008) “Political Theory in Science and Technology Studies”, in
Hackett, EJ, Amsterdamska, O, Lynch, M, Wajcman, J (eds) The Handbook of
Science and Technology Studies, 3rd edition, Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, pp. 63–82
Yin, R.K. (2003) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 3rd edition, Thousand
Oaks: Sage
 CHAPTER 3

Social Movements as Technology Developers

Abstract This chapter expands on the social movement theories that are
utilised in this book. Specifically, resource mobilisation theory and fram-
ing analysis. These are presented and adapted in the context of the book
to examine the material and immaterial considerations of the open source
movement respectively. Meaning the impact resource availability and man-
agement have in the organisation and activity of social movement actors as
well as the various cognitive processes that take place to justify and endorse
action.

Keywords Resource mobilisation • Framing analysis • Master frames

Open source technology in agriculture is a phenomenon not easy to clas-

sify. As will I show in Chap. 4, while certain individuals within these com-
munities do not classify themselves as the adherents of a specific social
movement, they do see themselves as ideologically kindred to larger global
movements that inform their activities even if some participate just because
it makes practical sense. Open source agriculture is, therefore, a social
movement emerging from the agglomeration of the various initiatives
from around the world. Although, much like in the case of the free and
open source movement, there are varying goals and backgrounds among

© The Author(s) 2019 17

C. Giotitsas, Open Source Agriculture, Palgrave Advances in
Bioeconomy: Economics and Policies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29341-3_3
18 C. GIOTITSAS

these initiatives, it is beneficial to determine whether there is collective

action stemming from common political goals.
Social movements typically oppose an established status quo via protest
or via promoting alternatives. In movements like the free and open source
software one, a novel perspective of the term social movement was required
because instead of contesting proprietary software, like typical opposi-
tional movements would, it not only promoted an alternative, but it pro-
duced it. Hence, David Hess (2005) coined the term technology- and
product-oriented movements to label those initiatives that create and pro-
mote specific technological artefacts and practices.
Technology- and product-oriented movements challenge scientific
knowledge and certain technological systems. They promote or produce
alternatives by establishing alliances with groups sharing similar interests
like scientists and entrepreneurs (Hess et al. 2007). Examples of such
movements can be found in various fields: the antismoking movement as
oppositional to cancer; the HIV therapy movements as promoting alterna-
tives in the health sector; the nuclear power and genetically modified food
as oppositional movements to certain technologies; the organic food
movement as promoting alternative agricultural methods in the environ-
mental sector; the media reform oppositional movement and the open
source, alternative media in the information sector.
I conceptualise the open source agriculture as such, and I assemble
here the elements necessary to review open source agriculture under a
similar vein.

3.1   Social Movement Theories

Social movement theory emerged in the beginning of the twentieth cen-
tury. Early research was centred on the ideas of deprivation and grievances
that pushed individuals to act spontaneously and often irrationally (see,
e.g., the work of Gustave Le Bon and Neil Smelser). However, the prolif-
eration of various social movements, with explicit goals, strategies and
beliefs, required concrete theoretical frameworks and conceptual tools to
be examined. The racial, women’s and environmental movements are
indicative examples.
The new theoretical approaches can be thematically divided into three
streams. The first, influenced by organisation theory, examines predomi-
nantly social movement organisations at the core of social movements as
 3 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AS TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPERS 19

hubs of strategic planning and coordination. The most prominent e­ xample

of this stream is resource mobilisation theory (hereafter RM), introduced
by McCarthy and Zald (1977). According to RM, social movements are
not mere manifestations of grievances but expressions of rational collective
action made possible by using available resources. To achieve this, social
movements rely heavily upon organisations. These formal Social Movement
Organisations (hereafter SMO) are examined in RM to establish how they
mobilise a variety of resources and engage various actors to maintain the
social movement and extend its influence.
The second stream borrows from political studies to examine social
movements. Within this stream, political opportunity (or political process)
theory focuses on the impact that institutions and political/structural fac-
tors might have on the success or failure of social movements (Tarrow
1998). According to this approach, political opportunities and changes in
the political environments might have a profound impact on social move-
ments, as they might enable or constrain collective action for certain social
groups (McAdam 1998). Thus, the actions of social movements are viewed
as reactions to changes in the political process.
The third stream views social movements through a cultural and social-­
constructivist lens. Sparked by new social movements, whose groups are
formed on a shared identity like the LGBT or the women’s movements,
research here focuses on processes of construction of meaning and ide-
ologies. Within this stream, framing analysis examines how social move-
ments enable collective action through the construction of frames that
provide a common identity and goals for the adherents (Snow and
Benford 1988).
Social movement theories allow us to gauge the form of political struc-
tures within society, that is, the people’s engagement in public issues (Tilly
2004). I selected framing and RM analysis because they provide concep-
tual tools to track the diverse set of values and interests represented in the
cases as well as they examine the organisational forms of the SMOs under
study and the selective incentives for individuals’ participation. Political
opportunity may not provide the right tools for insight in this case, since
the political climate within which this movement is emerging is not shift-
ing towards favourable conditions (an understatement according to many
of those I conversed with). Elements of it however are implemented in the
RM analysis; for instance, in exploring the securing of resources through
state outlets and working around regulatory hindrances.
20 C. GIOTITSAS

3.1.1  Framing Analysis
A frame is a methodological concept that describes the amalgam of ideas
and perspectives that motivate individuals and groups (Goffman 1974).
More specifically, the concept of collective action frames is used to describe
“action-oriented sets of beliefs and meanings that inspire and legitimate
the activities and campaigns of a social movement organization” (Benford
and Snow 2000, p.614). These collective action frames are deployed “to
mobilize potential adherents and constituents, to garner bystander sup-
port, and to demobilize antagonists” towards the achievement of the
movements’ goals (Snow and Benford 1988, p.198).
Some collective action frames may be so successful with applying these
processes and acquire such a broad scope that they achieve a status of mas-
ter frames. The master frames influence the activity and orientation of
other movements. While regular collective action frames are specific and
limited to the issue they attempt to address, master frames are wider and
flexible allowing for various movements to use them. I consider master
frames as symbolic tools with cultural significance in certain time periods,
which allow various movements to adapt them in order to elicit support
(Swart 1995). I explore how the open source agriculture movement is
engaging in master frame alignment processes to reconfigure three master
frames, namely the organic, open source and peasant ones to formulate its
collective action frame.
Framing analysis systematically traces the various ideals, beliefs and ide-
ologies that contribute into the emergence of open source technology as
a social movement and subsequently a development model for alternative
technology. It enables the exploration of the link between ideologies and
action, which in this case goes beyond opposition to create artefacts
imbued with these ideologies.
Frame alignment processes within each SMO are traced to identify the
open source agriculture collective action frame. As a social construction,
this frame is malleable and ever evolving, formulated in a transnational
level by different types of actors engaging in productive activity rather
than merely promoting a certain agenda. Framing analysis, then, helps
understand how technology is produced in the context of the economic
activity outside the dominant mode of technology production.
However, given that this mode of technology production partially relies
on market and state relations, I assume that interests and values of these
spheres also influence the technological outcome of the movement under
 3 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AS TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPERS 21

study. This type of specialised social movement activity depends on mate-

rial resources and the socio-economic environment it is taking place in.
This is where resource mobilisation comes in, to provide further insight
on what type of structure these organisations adopt to maintain their
activity and what incentives are offered in their adherents to elicit support
and resources.

3.1.2  Resource Mobilisation
Resource mobilisation (henceforth RM) emerged as a response to previ-
ous scholarship claiming that social movement activity is irrational and
practiced by fringe members of society. Instead, RM maintains that social
movements need resources to exist and act rationally to obtain them. The
social movement here is viewed as a mobilised demand (or preference) for
change in society (McCarthy and Zald 2001). The SMOs are important
elements of representation for this demand, as they mobilise the necessary
resources for the demand to be met.
There are three basic assumptions for RM: first, instead of being sup-
ported by aggrieved populations who provide resources, movements draw
upon a wider base of supporters both individuals and groups; second,
movements can use several tactics to achieve their goals; and third, move-
ments interact with and are influenced by political and institutional struc-
tures, primarily through SMOs.
A SMO is defined as a formal organisation that aligns its interests with
those of a social movement (ibid.). Several SMOs might be affiliated with
one movement, grouped in a “social movement industry”, and it is pos-
sible for them to be competing for the resources available for the achieve-
ment of the movement’s goals (McCarthy and Zald 2003). These resources
may include materials, money, labour, land, facilities, technical expertise or
even legitimacy (Tilly 1978; McCarthy and Zald 1977).
For resources to be attained, the SMO focuses its actions towards the
individuals and groups in society that may assist in the achievement of the
movement’s goals. These may be categorised in various ways. For the pur-
pose of this book, I outline McCarthy and Zald’s (1977) categorisation:
generally speaking, there may be opponents to the movement’s goals and
mere bystanders; more importantly, those that share the movement’s con-
victions are called adherents, while those that actively contribute resources
to the achievement of the movement’s goals are its constituents. A further
distinction for each of these categories is whether they may benefit from
22 C. GIOTITSAS

the achievement of the groups goals or not as, presumably, even an oppo-
nent could potentially be a beneficiary. Having said that, an adherent or
even a constituent is not necessarily a beneficiary as they might contribute
out of simple agreement to the movement’s cause.
In broad terms, the SMO attempts to turn bystanders into adherents
(beneficiary or otherwise) and adherents into constituents, but the goal of
each movement is what defines the specific course of action. A SMO may
provide selective incentives that will ensure continuous involvement from
constituents. These incentives may be monetary or material. Thus, RM
examines social movements and SMOs to identify what groups and indi-
viduals are engaged and how resources are mobilised to achieve the move-
ment’s goals.
The focus of RM on SMOs and selective incentives, combined with the
insights from motivation framing in the master frame analysis, allows for
the examination of the organisational structures featured in both cases as
well as the material motivation behind the involvement of individuals in
the movement. RM enables their examination as rational actors pursuing
goals that could be perceived as attempting to escape the prevailing socio-­
economic context of market relations in conventional agriculture, while
struggling to secure the necessary resources to remain sustainable within
it or at its periphery.
L’Atelier Paysan and Farm Hack are only two of the SMOs involved in
the open source agriculture movement. They have been selected due to
their extraordinary organisational structures and the large communities
supporting them. The next chapter applies the theoretical approaches pre-
sented here in the two cases. First, L’Atelier Paysan and Farm Hack, as
SMOs, are examined separately to pinpoint their unique characteristics as
they are formulated within their respective environments even though
they are geared towards similar goals.
Then, I review the three master frames identified as contributing in the
open source agriculture collective action frame. Master frames here are
considered historical thematic umbrellas to aggregate the immaterial
underpinnings (values, ideals, interests, goals, etc.) of the movement.
These have been identified via preliminary research in either case which
included tentative interviews and a review of documents and online mate-
rial. They were then synthesised through a mixture of extensive literature
review on the topic of framings in the identified social movements as well
as key documents of their prominent transnational SMOs. The frames are
broad enough to encompass all relevant elements identified in the ­subcases.
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
out for each phase of the work. Each field brought its offering of daily
experience and almost every flight contributed something to the
accumulation of facts out of which grew, finally, some surety of
knowledge. Into the development of methods flowed a steady stream
of ideas, discoveries, experiences and experiments, and so day by
day the American system of training grew to better results and higher
efficiency. Text-books, for the most part, were type-written or
mimeographed accounts of results that had been gained the month,
or the week, or the day before by following certain methods, with
comments and suggestions as to their use.
Many contributions of value to the general theory and practice of
training for flying were made by these enthusiastic young men who
toiled unceasingly over the problems set by our training fields. One
young lieutenant, while studying the causes of airplane accidents
and trying to find some means of preventing them, worked out a
series of exercises which reproduce the positions that must be taken
in advanced flying and so enable the cadet early in his work to find
out whether or not he is physically unfit to undertake acrobatic work
and also give him a measure of preparation for it. Experiment
showed that the motion picture film had possibilities for the flying
instructor and when hostilities ended it had been drawn into the
system of training and was beginning to be used to hasten and to
make safer the cadet’s progress. Sitting safely in his chair, he
watched whirling horizons, skies and landscapes, pictured from an
airplane going through one acrobatic performance after another,
noting the varying appearances of the pictures and his own
sensations, and so having his nervous system educated in advance
for what he would have to undergo, learning in time whether or not it
would unduly affect him and gaining quickly and without danger
valuable experience. An important development, worked out and
used at American flying fields, was a series of tests of the flier’s
physical ability to endure high altitudes. Observation showed that
accidents sometimes were the result of inability to endure rarefied
atmosphere and by placing the student in a tightly closed room,
gradually exhausting the oxygen and noting his reactions it was
speedily determined whether or not it was safe for him to attempt
high flights, either with or without a device for supplying him with
oxygen.
The flight surgeon, specialized out of the army medical officer, was
one of the early developments of training for air warfare and soon
also there appeared, first devised and used at an American field, the
flying ambulance, which enabled him and his assistants to go at
once to the help of an injured airman, give him first aid and bring him
back in the fuselage of the ambulance plane to the hospital. The end
of hostilities saw at least one flight surgeon at every aviation training
field in this country and several at each of the large ones. And there
had been established a division of flight surgeons for which medical
officers could receive a special course under the direction of the
Medical Research Board of the Surgeon General’s Office. The flight
surgeon’s duty was to keep every aviator under observation, to
examine each one physically before and after flying, to note the
effects of flight, especially at high altitudes, to determine how
frequently he should fly and to discover whether or not he had
physical peculiarities which would unfit him for any special kind of air
service. To aid in this work, which was producing remarkable results
in the way of both efficiency and safety, there had been established
at many of the flying fields research laboratories which worked out
new tests and special and ingenious apparatus for using them and
made examinations and observations of the airmen in training.
Associated with the work of the flight surgeon was that of the athletic
instructors who, toward the end of the war period, were appointed for
service at the flying fields. They were former college athletes and
athletic instructors who had received special training for the work of
keeping the student aviators in the best possible physical condition.
These phases of the system of training that was worked out at
American fields aimed to lessen the chances of accident and to gain
greater speed and efficiency in the progress of the cadets.
Throughout the war period the United States made a much greater
effort to lessen the casualties of training than did any other nation. A
longer period of work under dual control and more knowledge and
skill before the cadet began solo flying were demanded by our
system of training than other nations thought necessary. This and
other provisions for the safety of the cadets made our training
casualties less than half those of any other nation among our war
associates. The record of American flying field casualties showed
278 fliers killed in training, an average of one to each 236,800 miles
flown by cadets.
The system of training had not only to produce men for work in the
air. It had also to train large numbers for a great variety of work
necessary to sustain and coöperate with the flying fighters and
observers. In addition to unskilled labor, fifty-two trades and
occupations are essential to the aviation service and men had to be
either wholly or partially trained in each of them. At first, in order to
secure skilled men with the utmost speed, mechanics were sent in
detachments to a great number of factories where special training
was given them and afterward, as experience began to disclose
what would be needed, carefully worked out courses of training were
established in nearly a dozen different schools. Government schools
giving thorough training, in operation at the end of the first year of
war, were graduating 5,000 mechanics every three months. Aerial
photography had developed during the war to an exact science, but
when we entered the conflict very little was known about it in the
United States. Instruction in it was of a threefold character, for
observers had to learn how to operate cameras in an airplane,
intelligence officers on the ground had to be instructed in the
interpretation of the results and enlisted men to be taught to do the
developing, printing, and enlarging and to keep the equipment in
condition. Schools for training in all these things soon produced the
necessary instructors for the flying fields where training in aerial
photography was given.
It was a complicated and difficult problem that the United States
faced when it undertook to work out a system of air training while it
was training the men for air service. But within a year and a half it
had evolved an efficient system that set higher standards than did
other nations and also better safe-guarded the lives of the men in
training, and while doing this it had sent overseas 4,776 trained
flying officers, had as many more at home fields, and had in training
at home more than 5,000 cadets, of whom nearly half were in
advanced stages of the work. In the final test of service at the front
the men who had been trained by that system received for their
ability, skill and deeds the heartiest and highest praise.
 CHAPTER XVIII
THE BALLOON CORPS

The division of ballooning gave important service, although it also

had to be developed from a condition of little consequence. The few
balloons of all types possessed by both the Army and the Navy were
a small fraction of the number that would be needed. The balloon
force consisted of eight officers and sixty enlisted men. The only
school for ballooning had been rescued from complete abandonment
a few months before we entered the war, but it had accommodations
for only fifteen officers and 400 men, while its equipment was both
obsolete and meager. A program of expansion in the balloon service
was instituted and carried out that, in proportion, was comparable
with that of the airplane service. Within a year and a half both Army
and Navy were well supplied with all of the various types of balloons
and up and down the coasts of the United States and of France and
over our troops in the battle lines floated observation balloons
manned by eagle-eyed watchers, dirigibles were aiding the coast
patrols of both shores of the Atlantic and helping to escort troop and
supply ships through the danger zone, kite balloons were giving
constant and valuable service and balloons for the scattering of
propaganda on and behind the enemy lines were undermining the
morale of troops and peoples.
For training purposes the one existing school was modernized and
enlarged and others were opened, great rubber plants revived the
balloon making art, and at the end of hostilities the Army had over
1,000 and the Navy 300 balloons—dirigible, semi-dirigible, supply,
target and kite—and the Balloon Corps of the Army contained more
than 700 fully trained officers and 16,000 enlisted men, organized
into 100 companies, of which 25 were in the battle zone. Plans were
then under way to continue the expansion at an increased rate, for
developments at the front were constantly making more useful the
balloon of every type. To comply with this overseas need
arrangements had been completed to increase the Balloon Corps by
1,200 officers and 25,000 men.
 One of the most important scientific developments of the war was
the result of the endeavor of the American Air Service to find a non-
inflammable gas for balloons. Investigation and experiment by the
United States Bureau of Mines found a new source for helium in a
natural gas field in the Southwest, from which it could be produced
so cheaply as to make possible its use for this purpose. Up to that
time no more than a few hundred cubic feet had ever been obtained
and its value was $1,700 per cubic foot. When the war ended
150,000 cubic feet of helium for balloon inflation had been shipped
and plants were under construction that would produce 50,000 cubic
feet per day at a cost of about ten cents per foot. As a helium filled
balloon could not be destroyed by incendiary bullets it would be
comparatively safe from enemy attacks and could carry on over the
enemy lines operations of the greatest importance. Both the
American and British governments had perfected their plans, when
the armistice was signed, to use many dirigibles thus filled in air
attacks from which immense quantities of bombs would have been
dropped over strategic points in Germany.
Because of the assurance of safety which this non-inflammable
gas gives to balloon operations, the usefulness of all balloons, but
especially of the dirigible type, has been enormously increased and
a new era opened for their service. Working upon the problem of
making it possible to send propaganda balloons upon long journeys
over the enemy’s country, the meteorological service developed
ingenious types of balloons that did remarkable work of that kind
during the last months of war and, in addition, give promise of very
great usefulness for the days of peace.
 CHAPTER XIX
FLYING IN FRANCE

Seventeen large flying fields, divided into seven or more air

instruction centers, one of which was the largest in the world, were
developed in France for the partial training or final grooming of the
men who had already received part or nearly complete preparation
at the home fields. During the first year of the war 50,000 enlisted
men were sent overseas to rush forward the preparations for our air
forces. Most of them went to France, where they made ready the big
flying fields at the instruction centers, built assembly depots for
American-made planes and, later on, aerodromes near the front.
Others were formed into service squadrons and trained in England
and France, in order to lessen the pressure upon our hastily
developed facilities for such training, and were held in readiness for
work with American pilots. Still others took the places in factories of
French and English workers in order to release those who were
more highly skilled for specialized work on airplanes and their
accessories.
Hardly six weeks after the entrance of the United States into the
war cadets began sailing for France for training at the French flying
fields, in order to get our flying men upon the front at the earliest
possible date. Within a year 2,500 young American cadets had gone
across the ocean or to Canada to seek instruction at French,
English, Italian and Canadian flying schools. But the Allied nations
found it impossible, under the staggering blows they were suffering,
to furnish as many training planes as they had planned and many of
these young men were not able to become effective at the front for a
long time. But by the spring of 1918 some five hundred trained
American aviators, organized in thirteen American squadrons, were
working with the British and French airmen at the front.
It was early in May, 1918, that the first German airplane fell a
victim to an American airman in the American service. In that month
also the first planes from home were received by the American
Expeditionary Forces and early in August the first complete
American squadron with American built and equipped airplanes and
working with the American Army crossed the German lines.
From various sources, including over 2,600 pursuit, observation
and bombing planes furnished by the French Government to aid in
the speedy equipment of our fighting forces, the American Army in
France at the end of the war had a total of over 10,000 planes for
pursuit, bombing, reconnoissance, experiment and training
purposes. The United States had shipped overseas nearly 2,000
service planes and over 1,300 of these were at or supporting the
front. In the battle zone at the signing of the armistice the American
Air Service had 2,160 officers and 22,350 men, in the service of
supply were 4,640 officers and 28,350 soldiers, while detailed with
the French and British forces were 57 officers and 520 soldiers,
making a total air strength of over 6,800 officers and 51,200 men.
With the French army there were regiments of air service mechanics
including 100 officers and 4,700 enlisted men. Under instruction at
the fields and within two or three weeks of readiness for service at
the front were pilots for pursuit, observation, and day and night
bombing and observers, including artillery and day and night
bombing, numbering all told a little over 2,000.
Previous to the time when America became an important factor in
air operations, during the late summer and autumn of 1918, superior
power in the air had wavered back and forth between the opposing
forces. American built planes and American fliers added to the Allied
forces the air power necessary to insure supremacy. More and more
important during the last year of the war had become bombing
operations from the air and the United States had been asked to
specialize for bombing and reconnoissance work in both plane
production and training of personnel. American air work was
therefore largely of this kind and its contribution to the final defeat of
the enemy, both in the destruction of enemy troops and material and
in the undermining of morale, was of very considerable importance.
How important it was considered by our war associates is shown
by the unstinted praise they gave to the ability, the skill and the
daring of the American flying men. For their valor and achievements
four hundred of those men received decorations. Over sixty of them
were “aces”—that is, had received official credit for the bringing
down of five enemy planes. The premier “ace” had twenty-six planes
to his credit and the next highest had eighteen. Altogether, American
fliers accounted for 491 enemy planes whose destruction or capture
was confirmed by the very strict evidence required before official
credit for them was given and 354 others were reported without this
official confirmation. Of enemy balloons the destruction of eighty-two
was reported, of which fifty-seven had official confirmation. The
American forces lost forty-five balloons and 271 airplanes. Therefore
the American Air Service at the front destroyed more than three
times as many planes as it lost and almost twice as many balloons.
Among the flying men there were 554 casualties, of whom 171 were
killed in action.
 CHAPTER XX
AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS

As a part of the American effort for effective prosecution of the war

in the air, American skill, ingenuity, knowledge and determination in
research solved some problems in air navigation and air fighting that
will be contributions as important to aeronautics in peace time as
they were in war, when they helped to turn the tide of battle against
the enemy. The account of American achievement in the delivery of
telling strokes would hardly be complete without a summary of these
developments, discoveries and new applications of facts or methods
already known.
Of great importance was the devising of the Liberty Motor, which
met a keenly felt need for a high-powered engine for use in battle
and observation planes and also made possible rapid production of
motors in large quantities. Not only did this aid our war associates
and hasten our own progress toward making our influence decisive
at the front but it will have an important influence upon the
commercial future of the airplane.
The discovery of a method for obtaining helium in large quantities
at a low cost from natural gas will have results of the highest
consequence for air navigation. Being non-inflammable it makes the
dirigible a safe means of transport by air and so greatly increases
the possibilities of long distance flights above both oceans and
continents. The propaganda balloons devised by the meteorological
and other services of the United States were most useful in the
dissemination of information in enemy countries, where the results
were important in the undermining of morale. They also make
possible the mapping of the air highways across the Atlantic and the
observation of air temperatures and air currents—a service which
will be of so much importance to the future of aviation that it can not
yet be estimated.
The ingenuity and resourcefulness which found a means of
treating cotton fabric to make it as good as linen for the covering of
airplane wings made a contribution of signal value to American effort
in the war, for without it our air program would have been completely
balked. Other nations had attempted to solve the same problem and
had devised cotton substitutes for linen, but none of them had
proved equal to the strain which airplane wings must bear. The
American process gave a substitute as good as linen, and better in
some respects, and it has already proved a contribution of very great
value to the building of airplanes for commercial purposes, for it
simplifies the obtaining of raw material and lessens the cost of
production.
Many problems connected with work in the air were under study
by scientific experts in the army service when the armistice was
signed and many smaller problems had been solved and
contributions of less value had been made. Among them was the
devising of a new and improved compass for air use; the developing
of new and more serviceable cameras for airplanes; the construction
of a leak-proof tank for airplanes which lessens the dangers of flying;
the devising of several kinds of ingenious signaling lamps for both
day and night use. Several new types of planes were developed
under the urgency of the country’s needs that make important
aeronautical advances.
One of the most important of all the airplane improvements of the
entire war was the developing and the successful application by
members of the Bureau of Aircraft Production to American airplanes
of the radio telephone. It made possible voice communication
between planes in the air and between the ground and the planes.
For some time before the armistice was signed squadrons of
American planes at the front were being maneuvered and fought by
radio telephone and German orders had been insistent that an
American plane thus equipped should be shot down and brought to
the rear for examination. Important for war purposes as was this
development, the result of months of investigation and experiment,
its possibilities and its value for peace time uses are even greater.
Although not completed in time for war use, an invention for the
control and direction by wireless from the air of boats and torpedoes
in the water and of airplanes from the ground was mainly developed
under the spur of war needs and its promise was high for decisive
war usefulness, as it is also for peace-time purposes.
To create a new industry and bring it into quantity production; to
work out a method of instruction and training; to train thousands of
fliers in all the specialized branches of flying to a high degree of skill;
to train the tens of thousands of mechanics necessary for the
upkeep and supply of a large aviation service; to bring that service
up from a point of utter negligibility to a state of such efficiency and
importance that it gave aid of high value on the Western front; and
during the same time to make contributions of the highest
consequence to air navigation—that is the summing up of America’s
achievement in the air, in a year and a half, for the prosecution of the
war.
 PART TWO
THE NATION BEHIND THE FIGHTERS

CHAPTER XXI
FINANCING THE WAR

Statistics of financial operations usually make dull and dreary

reading for all who are not professional financiers. But every figure in
the financing of our share in the great war glows with interest. For it
is illumined by the high flame of patriotism and the eager wish to
serve the needs and the ideals of the nation that animated the whole
people. The story of the financing of the war is the story of the
enthusiastic giving by young and old, rich and poor, high and lowly,
all over the country, of all that their government asked in such
overflowing measure as far exceeded its requests. Willingly they
took up the heavy burden of increased taxes and gladly they carried
to triumphant success four huge loans of government bonds, thus
providing an enormous reservoir of credit that enabled the
government to pay its mountainous bills, to give a helping hand to
other nations, to bend all its energies to the prosecution of the war,
and to carry the country over from a peace to a war basis without
shock or financial disturbance.
The total cost of the war to the United States, down to the signing
of the armistice, was, in round numbers, something over
$21,000,000,000. The unavoidable continuation for a period of the
expenses of the war establishment will have added $10,205,000,000
to that sum by the end of June, 1919, and the complete return of the
country to a peace basis will somewhat increase that sum. However,
a considerable portion, probably more than one-quarter, will be
reclaimed from values gained or salvaged from the properties in
which it was invested. Loans to the nations associated with us in the
war, of which ten asked for credits, amounted, at the cessation of
hostilities, to $8,000,000,000, and were increased by
$2,000,000,000 more during the next six months. That sum will in
time be removed from the country’s net war expenditure. But
$21,000,000,000 in excess of the nation’s usual outlay for the
carrying on of its governmental affairs had to be raised quickly and,
for the most part, expended as soon as collected. The plan of the
Government for financing the war provided for the raising of
approximately one-third of this sum by taxation and from customs
duties and other usual sources and the remainder by bonds and
certificates maturing in from five to thirty years. Therefore the entire
cost of the war will be borne practically by those now living who as
mature persons have been a part of it or who as children have
witnessed or aided the work for it of their elders.
Accustomed hardly at all to direct taxation, the people
nevertheless took up readily a war burden of income and excess
profits taxes far heavier than anything they had ever dreamed of
before. For the first time in their lives millions of people were called
upon to make direct contributions to the support of the Federal
Government. The sum of $3,694,000,000 raised by direct taxation
was the largest tax ever paid by any country and represented a
larger proportion of the nation’s war budget than any other
belligerent engaged in the great war had been able to defray from
tax revenues. About seven-eighths of this sum came from taxes on
income and excess profits and the remainder from taxes on liquors
and tobacco. Only about $22,000,000 of the revenue from incomes
was paid by those having incomes of $3,000 or less, the bulk of it
coming from large fortunes and excess profits.
The story of the four great Liberty Loans that preceded the signing
of the armistice can never be adequately written. It is regrettable that
it cannot be told in all its richness of enthusiasm and desire to be of
service, its hard and willing work, and its lavish outpouring of money
from men, women and children of every economic class and social
condition who thus proved their determination to support the men in
khaki who had gone overseas to maintain the integrity and uphold
the ideals of the American Union. For if it could be told in all that
fullness it would be one of those great stories of humanity that for
centuries retain their vital spark and their power to thrill and inspire.
A flame of passionate purpose swept the country and caught into its
burning ardor almost every home in the land, whether on isolated
farms, in remote mountain valleys, in thriving towns, on poor city
streets, or on mansion-lined avenues. The nation asked the people
to buy, in the four loans, a total of $14,000,000,000 worth of bonds,
and they over-subscribed even this vast amount by $4,800,000,000.
It was by far the greatest financial achievement ever carried through
by any nation in response to appeals to its people.
The First Liberty Loan took place in May and June, 1917, when
subscriptions were asked for bonds to the value of $2,000,000,000.
There was an oversubscription of more than fifty per cent,
amounting, in round numbers, to $1,035,000,000. But as the issue
was limited to the amount offered none of the oversubscriptions
could be taken. There were over 4,000,000 individual subscriptions,
of which ninety-nine per cent were for amounts ranging from $50 to
$10,000. There were only twenty-one subscriptions for amounts of
$5,000,000 and over, and they aggregated somewhat less than
$190,000,000.
The Second Liberty Loan occurred in October, 1917, the amount
asked for being $3,000,000,000. The final returns showed an
oversubscription of fifty-four per cent, or somewhat more than
$1,617,000,000, half of which the Treasury Department was
authorized to accept. The loan was taken by 9,400,000 men and
women, of whom ninety-nine per cent, subscribing in amounts
ranging from $50 to $50,000, took nearly two and a half billion
dollars.
The Third Liberty Loan took place in April, 1918, opening on the
anniversary of our entrance into the war, when bonds were offered to
the amount of $3,000,000,000. These were over-subscribed by more
than $1,158,000,000, the full amount being allotted by the Treasury
Department. The number of subscribers was 18,300,000, of whom
18,285,000 subscribed for amounts ranging from $50 to $10,000.
 The Fourth Liberty Loan followed in October, 1918, the request
being for $6,000,000,000. The amount asked for equaled the
combined requests of the Second and the Third Loans, all three
occurring within one year. It was the largest single loan any nation, at
that time, had ever asked of its people and was described by the
Secretary of the Treasury as “the greatest financial achievement of
all history.” No American can fail to feel that it was a privilege and a
milestone in his life to witness and be a part of the patriotic fervor
that carried it to a triumphant conclusion. The influenza epidemic that
swept the country during the period of the loan kept many hundreds
of thousands of people in sick-beds or sent them to their graves,
disorganized business for many weeks, closed schools, churches,
theaters, and all public assemblies in many places and everywhere
interfered seriously with the progress of the campaign. Nevertheless,
it was over-subscribed by almost $1,000,000,000. More than
21,000,000 people subscribed for bonds, thus making, if five persons
be counted to the family, an average of a bond for every family in the
country.
The rising tide of the nation’s spirit was marked by the increase of
subscribers from loan to loan. The number subscribing to the second
loan doubled those to the first, and the third almost doubled those to
the second, while the fourth made a huge leap forward of 3,000,000
subscribers beyond the third. The over-subscription to the Fourth
Liberty Loan, all of which was allotted, was sixteen and a half per
cent. As in the previous loans, the great bulk of the securities taken
was in the smaller amounts, thus proving the almost unlimited extent
to which the mass of the people, of small fortune, were willing to
stand behind the government with their savings.
Their spirit was all the more notable because of the fact that the
American people have never been accustomed to purchase
government bonds and have never sought, in any considerable
number, bond investments of any kind. Each bond sale, with
cumulative energy and enthusiasm that found their climax in the
fourth, was made the medium of a great informative and patriotic
campaign that sought to bring the meaning of the war, the aims and
ideals of America and the imperative necessity of the winning of the
conflict as soon as possible straight home to the heart of every
American. Hundreds of thousands of workers talked and sang to
assemblages and to crowds on the streets, carried on house to
house canvasses, received contributions at booths in hotels, banks,
public places of every sort. Cities and towns were gay with posters,
banners and parades and the flags of America and the Allies floated
from poles and house-tops and windows. Soldiers returning from the
front told the American people in hundreds of addresses why their
money was needed for the men on the fighting lines. Trophies of
war, captured from the enemy, taken over the country everywhere
aroused enthusiasm. Artists gave their talent and skill in the making
of posters that had nation-wide display. Men and women of
prominence organized meetings and made addresses, and societies,
newspapers and press associations aided in many ways. During the
third and fourth campaigns it is estimated that not less than
2,000,000 men and women devoted themselves to helping the sale
of the bonds.
The work done by the National Woman’s Liberty Loan Committee,
of which more detailed description is given in the chapter dealing
with “The Work of Women for the War,” deserves mention here
because of the importance of its contribution to the success of the
loans. When the committee was appointed by the Secretary of the
Treasury in May, 1917, it was made independent of all other loan
organizations and given the status of a Bureau of the United States
Treasury. It was a unique pioneer, for it was the first executive
committee of women in the Government of the United States. When
it was established the campaign for the First Liberty Loan was
already in full swing, but it made a beginning, produced some good
results and then bent its energies to thorough organization. It had a
county chairman in practically every one of the thirty-two hundred
counties in the United States, with 49,500 associate chairmen
organizing subordinate units, and in cities, towns, villages, farming
regions, mountain and desert districts, its members canvassed for
subscriptions from house to house, by carriage, by motor, by
horseback and on foot, in rain or shine, in mud or dust. In the Fourth
Liberty Loan campaign there were nearly 1,000,000 working
members of the Woman’s Committee, every one of whom was busy
as organizer, or canvasser, or both. In the Second Liberty Loan the
organization was officially credited with the raising of $1,000,000,000
and in the Third Loan with a similar sum, while in the Fourth the
Woman’s Committee sold bonds to the amount of $1,500,000,000.
The total contribution of the Committee to the three loans for which it
worked was, therefore, one-fourth of the total asked for these three
loans and only a slightly smaller proportion of the total subscriptions.
One of the most significant factors in the financing of the war was
the contribution of the War Savings Societies. For what they gave
was the result of small economies and of a thrift for which the
American people have never been notable. Wasteful and prodigal
beyond any other nation, America, asked to economize for the sake
of her soldiers, began saving pennies and nickels and quarters as
nobody had ever dreamed she could, or would. The National War
Savings Committee was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury
in December, 1917, and under it state, county, city and town
committees were soon organized. All their members began
preaching and practicing the gospel of thrift and asking men, women
and children to save in every possible way and invest the results of
their small savings and economies in thrift stamps costing twenty-
five cents each. Sixteen of these stamps were exchangeable, with a
cash payment of a few cents, for a war savings certificate
redeemable in five years at a value of five dollars.
A nation-wide campaign of education for thrift and economy and of
organization for practical result enlisted the services of many men
prominent in business affairs. During the first three months of the
campaign more than 18,000 incorporated banks and trust companies
agreed to become authorized agents for the sale of war savings
securities. The work spread all over the country, from Alaska to
Panama and from Hawaii to Porto Rico. By the first of November,
1918, 150,000 War Savings Societies had been organized and
hundreds of thousands of workers were selling stamps and aiding in
the distribution of literature and the work of organization. More than a
thousand periodicals gave free space to the advertising of the
campaign, affording, approximately, a circulation of 55,000,000.
Labor organizations and women’s societies, schools, churches,
clubs of many kinds, young people’s organizations, the Boy Scouts
being especially efficient, coöperated with important results. Thrift
literature was placed in practically every school in the United States.
The monthly cash receipts from the sale of thrift and war-savings
stamps began with $19,236,000 in December, 1917, and increased
with every month, reaching their highest point in the following July
with $211,417,000. During the last ten days, of that month the
receipts were at the rate of over $7,000,000 for every banking day—
enough to have financed the entire United States Government in the
years before the war.
Up to November 1, 1918, the cash receipts from the sales of these
stamps totaled $834,253,000, representing a maturity value of over
$1,000,000,000. The achievements and influence of these societies
were so remarkable and so beneficial that probably they will be
continued and become a permanent factor in the finances of the
nation.
Through the Bureau of War Risk Insurance of the Department of
the Treasury the nation made generous provision for its fighting
forces and their dependents. No other government had ever
provided for them so liberally, nor had any other, not even excepting
our own in previous wars, gone about the business in so just and so
scientific a manner. Established at the beginning of the world war to
insure the hulls and cargoes of American vessels against the risks of
war, the scope of the Bureau was enlarged after our entrance into
the conflict to include the personnel of the merchant marine and the
officers, enlisted men and nurses of the Army and the Navy. It had
also in its charge the compensation awards for death or disability to
be paid to the men of these services or their dependents and the
payment of allotments to their families. So enormous was the work of
the Bureau that it soon became one of the greatest of business
enterprises and beyond question the largest life insurance concern in
the world. It had written, at the end of hostilities, 4,000,000 policies
totaling over $37,000,000,000 and equaling in amount the total life
insurance in force at that time in all American companies, ordinary,
industrial and fraternal, both at home and abroad. The maximum
policy that could be taken out was for $10,000 and the average
taken was for about $8,750. Premiums to the end of the year
amounted to $630,000,000. At the signing of the armistice the
Bureau was issuing checks for compensation awards, allotments
and insurance averaging a million per month in number and calling
for the payment of a million dollars a day. It then had on file
30,000,000 individual insurance records of various kinds and, in
addition, there were afterwards brought from France twenty-six tons
of such records of insurance issued after the men had gone
overseas.
The enormous amount of work done by this Bureau was only one
factor in the wartime expansion of the duties of the Treasury
Department that brought about grave problems of administration.
Thousands of new employees were needed for the vastly increased
work of the Internal Revenue Bureau, with its new phases due to the
inauguration of direct personal taxation, and thousands more for the
work of the War Risk Insurance Bureau, the new tasks of each
Bureau calling for special skill. The Insurance Bureau had 13,000
employees, recruited and trained in a year. Other expansions made
necessary still more thousands of workers. Office space for them
and for the records that must be kept had to be provided, the
employees had to be found and the greater part of them had to be
trained for their special tasks. The problem of training was met by
establishing schools within the Treasury Department in which
intensive work prepared applicants for their duties in a short time.
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