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Rural Restructuring and the Regulation of Farm Pollution
Abstract
In this paper the emergence during the 1980s of a water pollution problem associated with intensive livestock production is examined. Farm pollution is socially constructed and is shaped by rural social change. Rural areas are experiencing social and economic restructuring with a resultant shift in emphasis from production to consumption concerns. 'New' people are living in the countryside, with ideas about how its resources should be managed that often differ from those with traditional production interests. At the same time, the debates surrounding the privatisation of the water industry opened up the issue of water pollution in the countryside to greater critical scrutiny. It is in this context that pollution from farm 'wastes' (termed here 'farm pollution') has gone from being a 'nonproblem' in the 1970s to an issue of greater public and political concern and regulatory activity since the late 1980s. Based on evidence from a study of dairy farming in Devon, it is argued in this paper that the farm pollution problem and its regulation are as much a function of social change in the countryside as of environmental change in rivers.
... We then consider the influence of these factors on the effective regulation of farmers' conduct and on the organisations involved in implementation. This chapter builds on insights gained from previous studies that focused on the views of farmers or farmer interests in the implementation of pollution control and agri-environmental schemes (Ward et al. 1995;Kaljonen 2006;Blackstock et al. 2007;Dupraz et al. 2009). This study differs in engaging farming and other actors at the next tier of social organisation, through agri-political organisations (referred to hereafter as farmer industry groups), in environmental governance. ...
... Related sources of ambiguity include the often unacknowledged and competing political motivations behind target setting and policy objectives. Ward et al. (1995), writing about the UK Control of Pollution Act 1974, described how the 'control objectives' of the regulations were left unclear. In this instance, they pointed to the emerging value-based conflict between farmers and environmentalists. ...
... It is also seen as contributing towards resolving conflicting policy imperatives (Moss 2004;Carter et al. 2005) which are part and parcel of neoliberal policy settings in Australia. One particular regulatory strategy is that of cooperatively developed standards or targets, tailored to local conditions (Ward et al. 1995;Sabel et al. 2000;Brouwer et al. 2003). In our study, these cooperatively developed targets and standards play a central but partial approach to co-regulation of agriculture in the Great Barrier Reef. ...
Risk and Social Theory in Environmental Management marks a timely contribution,
given that environmental management is no longer just about protecting pristine
ecosystems and endangered species from anthropogenic harm; it is about calculating
and managing the risks to human communities of rapid environmental and
technological change.
First, the book provides a solid foundation of the social theory underpinning the
nature of risk, then presents a re-thinking of key concepts and methods in order
to take more seriously the biophysical embeddedness of human society. Second,
it presents a rich set of case studies from Australia and around the world, drawing
on the latest applied research conducted by leading research institutions. In so
doing, the book identifies the tensions that arise from decision-making over risk
and uncertainty in a contested policy environment, and provides crucial insights for
addressing on-ground problems in an integrated way.
... Increased consumption also affects rural communities through agricultural production itself. Ward et al (1995Ward et al ( , 1193 contend that the role of agricultural production is diminishing in association with a secular redefinition of the social functions of rural space to encompass distinctive consumption roles (such as residence, recreation, leisure, and environmental conservation). Marsden (1992, 219) agrees, seeing a decline in the "productivist system of agriculture" at the same time as the development of a much more diverse set of "privatized consumption relations." ...
... People are migrating in and out of rural communities in response to the pressures of the global market. These migration flows have reshaped rural society (Ward et al 1995(Ward et al , 1194. ...
... In-migration has been associated with and helped to catalyze a major shift in public attitudes to agriculture and the countryside, which has produced a growing gap between public perceptions of the function of the countryside and those of the farming community on questions of pesticide and land use (Ward et al 1995(Ward et al , 1194. Salamon and Tornatore (1994, 638) found that in-migration also resulted in tensions between local residents and newcomers with more wealth and education than established residents. ...
... Increased consumption also affects rural communities through agricultural production itself. Ward et al (1995Ward et al ( , 1193 contend that the role of agricultural production is diminishing in association with a secular redefinition of the social functions of rural space to encompass distinctive consumption roles (such as residence, recreation, leisure, and environmental conservation). Marsden (1992, 219) agrees, seeing a decline in the "productivist system of agriculture" at the same time as the development of a much more diverse set of "privatized consumption relations." ...
... People are migrating in and out of rural communities in response to the pressures of the global market. These migration flows have reshaped rural society (Ward et al 1995(Ward et al , 1194. ...
... In-migration has been associated with and helped to catalyze a major shift in public attitudes to agriculture and the countryside, which has produced a growing gap between public perceptions of the function of the countryside and those of the farming community on questions of pesticide and land use (Ward et al 1995(Ward et al , 1194. Salamon and Tornatore (1994, 638) found that in-migration also resulted in tensions between local residents and newcomers with more wealth and education than established residents. ...
... Ward and Lowe's (1994) analysis noted the importance of succession and noted that 'sceptics' were most likely, and the 'radicals' least likely, to be planning for family farm succession. Drawing on the same sample, Ward et al. (1995) set farm pollution incidents in wider social context, noting how the presence of non-farming 'newcomers' might be leading to a re-evaluation of environmental management in the countryside as well as farmers' roles within it. ...
... This paper has considered farmers' understandings of rivers and riparian environments and examined how these sit within notions of good farming. Whilst the paper echoes previous studies which have observed some confusion amongst respondents relating to both ownership of, and responsibility for, riparian environments (Popp et al., 2007;Barnes et al., 2009) it has also observed a change in the two decades since Ward et al.'s (1995) study -with farmers being acutely aware of their responsibilities in relation to avoiding pollution. Clear, and strict, regulatory control has meant that all farmers were aware of their responsibilities to not, knowingly at least, pollute rivers. ...
A vibrant literature has emerged around Bourdieusian-inspired notions of the ‘good farmer’ and how such concepts might aid our understandings of agriculture and agricultural change. To date, however, studies of the good farmer have been framed largely in relation to land management, with little consideration given to riparian environments which make up a significant part of the farmed landscape. Drawing on in-depth interviews with farmers in a river catchment in the North of England (UK), this paper considers how farmers' engagement with riparian environments on their farms feature in, and are (re)shaped by, notions of good farming. The paper observes how riparian environments' (im)materiality, unpredictability and untidiness limit their ability to generate and exhibit capital(s) and how an infrequency of direct engagement with rivers – arguably reinforced through recent regulatory changes on what farmers can and cannot do to riparian environments – mean that farmers have often not developed skills and capitals associated with rivers in the same way that they have for land. These observations are used to consider farmers' engagement with more recently introduced river health-enhancing managements and to consider whether, when taken together, we might be witnessing a shift in how riparian environments contribute to good farming and good farmer status.
... Col- lectively, these changes undermine farm- ers' economic and political standing. Al- though not a new concern (Pahl 1965; Newby et al. 1978), it is now felt more intensely and is more widespread ( Ward et al. 1995). Farmers' control over local change is diminishing at the same time as society is devaluing their technical exper- tise, learned over two generations, di- rected toward producing ever more food. ...
... These de- mands are internalized by agricultural science and agribusiness, who interpret sustainability as a combination of "clean" technical fixes and a progressive integra- tion of environmental policies into exist- ing practices (Frouws and Van Tatenhove 1993). The new protocols present farmers with incentives and constraints on farm practices, all of which have particular geographies (Bishop and Phillips 1993;Ward et al. 1995). These issues raise important questions for agrarian political economy. ...
In this paper, we review recent developments in political economy approaches to agricultural geography. During the last decade, the main areas of debate have shifted from materialist concerns about uneven development, transformation of the family farm, and the role of the state to the related questions of consumption and social nature. We emphasize the common challenges faced by economic geographers addressing the embeddedness of economic relations in social, political, and cultural practices, including the need for theoretical approaches which examine the differential constitution of "structural" processes, their articulation in localities, and the role of actors. To illustrate, we recount recent changes in British farming that demonstrate the continuous repositioning of agriculture within restructured rural spaces and an increasingly integrated, corporate agro-food chain. From these changes new themes emerge. These include those of nature, specifically relations between "natural" and "social" processes, contested meanings of the natural world, and the environmental regulation of agriculture, and the growing need to address aspects of consumption, ranging from food safety to the delivery of amenity, landscape, and ecological "improvements."
... Rosenau (1990) argues that while the nation-state has traditionally buffered civil society from the excesses of capital, there is no such protection at the global level. Ward et al (1995) contend that the role of agricultural protection is diminishing in association with a secular redefinition of the social functions of rural space to encompass distinctive consumption roles (such as residence, recreation, leisure, and environmental conservation). ...
The main purpose of this descriptive-survey research is to identify green marketing strategies in Iran and also to investigate the level of awareness of organic agricultural producers in Iran about mixed marketing strategies. The statistical population of this study is all producers of organic products in Iran (N=۸۳) that all these units were considered as a research sample. Research tools include a questionnaire in three sections of general characteristics questions (۷ questions), green marketing strategies (۹ items) in three dimensions (organizational, environmental, and consumer) and a survey of producers’ awareness of the green marketing mix (۱۶ items) in four dimensions (green product, green price, green place, and green promotion) was developed for organic agricultural producers. The validity of the questionnaire was proofed by face and content validity. Likewise, the reliability of the questionnaire was tested employing Cronbach’s alpha. Data analysis was accomplished using SPSS۲۵ software at two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics. Mean and correlation coefficients were used to analyze the data. Findings revealed that the strategy of organic producers in Iran is more focused on its environmental aspect. The results also revealed that the majority of producers are highly aware of the green marketing mix. There is no positive and significant relationship between manufacturers’ awareness of the green marketing mix and research variables. There was no significant difference between contextual variables and producers’ awareness of the green marketing mix.
... In terms of agriculture, as this sector has industrialized and intensified, public perceptions of farmers have become more complex. For example, pollution from farms has become more of a concern, the economic role of agriculture within local industries has become less important, and rural land use change toward amenity and recreation uses have intensified (e.g., Butt 2013; Cabot et al. 2004;Caldwell 1998;Smithers et al. 2005;Ward et al. 1995). Increasing pressure to change public policy to address environmental degradation from a public whose livelihoods do not depend on agriculture (e.g., Freshwater and Deavers 1992) was noted decades ago, but this problem has yet to be addressed. ...
Urban and agricultural communities are interdependent but often differ on approaches for improving water quality impaired by nutrient runoff waterbodies worldwide. Current water quality governance involves an overlapping array of policy tools implemented by governments, civil society organizations, and corporate supply chains. The choice of regulatory and voluntary tools is likely to influence many dimensions of the relationship between urban and agricultural actors. These relationships then influence future conditions for collective decision-making since many actors participate for multiple years in water quality improvement. In this policy analysis, we draw on our professional experiences and research, as well as academic and practitioner literatures, to investigate how different types of water quality interventions influence urban-agricultural relationships, specifically examining policy tools on a regulatory to voluntary spectrum. Interactions between farmers and other rural agricultural interests on one hand, and urban residents and their stormwater managers and wastewater treatment plants on the other, influence dynamics relevant for water quality improvement. We suggest that the selection of policy tools within complex governance contexts influence urban–agricultural relationships through financial exchange, political coalitions, knowledge exchange, interpersonal relationships, and shared sense of place. Policy tools that provide a means to build relationships and engage with people’s emotions and identities have potential to influence personal and community change and adaptive capacity, while processes such as lawsuits can catalyze structural change. Engaging these relationships is particularly critical given the need to move out of polarized positions to solve collective problems.
... Such patterns have significant implications for the existing farms, since land prices may rise in response to accelerated demand from 'lifestyles' migrating from urban centers and/or non-permanent second homeowners [154]. These processes can be regarded as a sort of rural gentrification leading to fragmented land ownership, increasing human impact and greater disturbance of local ecosystems [155]. In such contexts, native population and migrants (with temporary or permanent second homes) may occupy a 'shared but separate' geographic space with considerable consequences for resilience of local communities, counting environmental and political issues, and long-term sustainability [156][157][158]. ...
A complex interplay between socioeconomic transformations and demographic dynamics has characterized the long-term development of European countries. As a characteristic example of such linkage, the present study focuses on the spatial relationship between metropolitan growth and population age structure. Preferences for urban and suburban locations reflect complex socioeconomic phenomena such as sprawl, class segregation, gentrification and filtering. However, the spatial linkage between sprawl and demographic transitions was relatively poorly analyzed, and should be more extensively investigated in relation with population dynamics and socioeconomic structures at local scale. By reviewing pertinent literature, this study outlines how space exerts a non-neutral impact on population age structures in Europe, shaping housing needs and influencing settlement patterns and processes of urban transformation. While suburban locations have concentrated younger families and larger households in Northern and Western Europe, the socio-demographic composition of new settlements is increasingly dominated by older inhabitants in the Mediterranean region. Results of this work suggest how discontinuous urban expansion was specifically associated with an elder, wealthy population with high standard of living and a preference for specific housing locations such as detached villas with gardens and swimming pools.
... In the 1970s, the government began to see livestock waste as a pollution problem and legislated for its abatement. In the 1980s, it envisaged AD as enhancing the farm's environmental sustainability (Ward et al., 1995). The government's farm waste-management plans helped stimulate around 30 farm-based AD units from the late 1980s to 1995 (Bywater, 2011;Sanders et al., 2010). ...
To implement EU climate policy, the UK’s New Labour government (1997–2010) elaborated an ecomodernist policy framework. It promoted technological innovation to provide low-carbon renewable energy, especially by treating waste as a resource. This framework discursively accommodated rival sociotechnical imaginaries, understood as visions of feasible and desirable futures available through technoscientific development. According to the dominant imaginary, techno-market fixes stimulate low-carbon technologies by making current centralized systems more resource-efficient (as promoted by industry incumbents). According to the alternative eco-localization imaginary, a shift to low-carbon systems should instead localize resource flows, output uses and institutional responsibility (as promoted by civil society groups). The UK government policy framework gained political authority by accommodating both imaginaries. As we show by drawing on three case studies, the realization of both imaginaries depended on institutional changes and material-economic resources of distinctive kinds. In practice, financial incentives drove technological design towards trajectories that favour the dominant sociotechnical imaginary, while marginalizing the eco-localization imaginary and its environmental benefits. The ecomodernist policy framework relegates responsibility to anonymous markets, thus displacing public accountability of the state and industry. These dynamics indicate the need for STS research on how alternative sociotechnical imaginaries mobilize support for their realization, rather than be absorbed into the dominant imaginary.
... Not only in high-income countries, but also in middle-income countries (Karali et al., 2014;Paolisso & Maloney, 2000), a shift is induced by the changing rural population and more generally by the pressure of public opinion, which results in emphasis on health and consumption concerns over production. The gap between conventional farming practices and people's awareness of the impact of the 'productivist' model on environment and food quality has been continuously increasing since the 1980s and the 1990s (Ward et al., 1995). In other terms, the structuring concept of "good farmer" is now evolving to meet consumers' expectations. ...
... Not only in high-income countries, but also in middle-income countries (Karali et al., 2014;Paolisso & Maloney, 2000), a shift is induced by the changing rural population and more generally by the pressure of public opinion, which results in emphasis on health and consumption concerns over production. The gap between conventional farming practices and people's awareness of the impact of the 'productivist' model on environment and food quality has been continuously increasing since the 1980s and the 1990s (Ward et al., 1995). In other terms, the structuring concept of "good farmer" is now evolving to meet consumers' expectations. ...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
When dominant or mainstream perceptions and
concepts have an undesired impact on nature and
its contributions to people, promoting alternative
perceptions and concepts may transform practices
towards more desired impacts (established but
incomplete). Individual perceptions of the surrounding world
are organized into concepts that vary depending on the
knowledge, norms, values and beliefs of the community to
which an individual belongs (Figure 2.1). These perceptions
and concepts influence the way a society builds its own reality
and acts on it (well established) {2.1, 2.2.1.2}. The dominant
worldviews of a given society or community can affect,
positively or negatively, nature and nature’s contributions
to people {2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.2.4}. To achieve Sustainable
Development Goal 15.3 of a land degradation neutral world,
a shift in worldviews in necessary: from one where land
degradation is seen as collateral damage or an externality
of desired development, to one where land degradation to
achieve development is unacceptable {2.2.1.5, 2.3.3).
Sustainable development is based on three
pillars: social, environmental and economic. In
its implementation, however, economic growth is
often considered as the overarching driver of social
and environmental progress (well established).
Land degradation is sometimes perceived as a result of
underdevelopment, while the impacts of development on
land degradation tend to be disregarded (e.g., public policies
supporting export crops or huge infrastructures) {Box 2.4}. For
example, in 2012, 26 out of 40 Agenda 21 targets were “far
from being reached” and six were in recession {2.2.4}. Among
the six were “fighting global climate change” and “changing
consumption patterns” {2.2.4}. Development and economic
activity can also cause negative externalities and degradation
{2.2.1.5}. A successful example of creating disincentives for
negative externalities is the “polluter pays principle” {2.2.1.5}.
Widening the scope of this principle to make it more broadly
applicable to land degradation might be considered.
People are often uninformed about the undesirable
environmental impacts of goods and commodities
(well established). Raising awareness on how individual
consumption choices can have unintended consequences
in distant locations is a necessity (well established) {2.2.1.3}.
Marketing disinformation about environmental impacts is
a rule, not an exception {2.2.3.3, 2.3.2, 2.3.1.3, 2.3.1.4}.
Trade competition externalizes social-environmental
impacts to lower the prices {2.2.1.5, 2.2.3}. Internalizing
the environmental costs of staple, clothes and other
goods would raise public awareness, create a strong
demand for low-impact products and promote more equity
between people in developed and developing countries
{2.2.1.5, 2.2.2.3}. Farmers and agribusiness corporations
have a major role to play in inventing products and
practices reflecting people’s expectation for low footprint
agriculture (2.2.3).
When land degradation affects cultural diversity and
its associated biodiversity, not only are unique socialecological
systems threatened, but society also risks
losing the local cultural knowledge that can inspire
more sustainable practices (well established). The
pervasive absorption or loss of traditional knowledge and
management systems, which have proven sustainable over
decades or centuries, affects cultural, biological, agricultural
diversity and ecosystem services {2.2.2.1}. Land and water
degradation in or around traditional territories is mainly
caused by external population pressure and development
programmes such as dams or monoculture {2.2.2.3, 2.3.1.1}.
The precarious situation of many indigenous and local people,
and their knowledge systems, is an environmental as well
as a social issue. Indigenous and local practices and values
are embedded in worldviews and can provide alternatives
to mainstream practices. For example, indigenous and local
value that link the “good life” or “Buen Vivir” {2.2.2.1} to a
fulfilling social life in a non-degraded environment point to more
sustainable pathways through new worldviews, such as the
expansion of traditional and/or agroecological practices along
with new conscious consumption patterns. These have already
been adopted by growing segments of civil society around the
world and could be further promoted {2.3.1.2, 2.3.2.1}.
High and rising population numbers in many
parts of the world pose profound challenges for
environmental sustainability in both developed and
developing countries (well established). While human
demography is predominantly seen as a matter of
2. CONCEPTS AND PERCEPTIONS OF LAND
DEGRADATION AND RESTORATION
56
THE ASSESSMENT REPORT ON LAND DEGRADATION AND RESTORATION
poverty and underdevelopment to be dealt with
by increasing food production, it is nonetheless a
crucial but tabooed environmental issue (unresolved).
Successful closing of the transnational development gap
and eradication of the difference in per capita consumption
highlights the importance of the population size. Thus,
the focus on reducing consumption might be extended
to embrace an inclusive demographic policy. In 1972, the
declaration of Stockholm acknowledged the environmental
problems caused by overpopulation and stated that
countries should control their demography without affecting
basic human rights. Soon after Stockholm, however, the
population problem was deemed a social and educational
problem, and was addressed as an underdevelopment
issue. Measures to curb population growth are available and
can deliver significant and lasting environmental and social
benefits. These include improved access to education,
family planning and gender equality (well established),
and improved access to social welfare to support ageing
populations (established but incomplete). The role of
subsidies that may be further stimulating population
growth in more developed nations should also come under
scrutiny as one of the measures to curb population growth
{2.2.4.2, 2.3.1.4}.
The short-term financial costs of restoration are easy
to quantify and may seem high, while the short-,
medium-, and long-term effects of restoration on
nature’s contributions to people are less easy to
perceive and value (well established). The benefits of
avoiding and reversing land degradation are undeniable
and go beyond monetary valuation (well established).
Raising awareness of the multiple benefits of both
avoiding land degradation and restoring ecosystems
might justify raising the resources to achieve restoration
and land degradation neutrality targets. Moreover, a more
holistic approach to nature’s contributions to people
could embrace and meet the expectations of a part
of the civil society with knowledge systems that place
social-ecological harmony above other considerations.
While economic valuation of ecosystem services is
common, many of the nature’s contributions to people
have no market prices {2.2.1.3, 2.2.1.5} and are therefore
undervalued, if valued at all. This practice diminishes not
only the economic, but also the multiple non-monetary
and intrinsic values associated with nature and nature’s
contributions to people, be it spiritual, cultural or ethical
{2.2.2.1, 2.3.1.2}. In addition, the concrete benefits of
restoration might take longer to be achieved, while the
costs of restoration are rather immediate {2.2.1.3, 2.3.1}.
Costs and benefits of degrading or restoring can be
defined in monetary terms {2.2.1.5}, but the question is
multidimensional and includes the imperative to maintain
biological and cultural diversity {2.2.2.1}. Benefits will be
underestimated when the concept of “good quality of life”
is limited to purchasing power (well established) {2.2.4.3,
2.3.2, 2.3.2.2}. These benefits would be easier to perceive
if the dominant systems of value focused on the good
quality of life with individuals having a fulfilling social life in a
non-degraded environment {2.2.2.1, 2.3}.
The international community has recognized that
a collapse of ecosystem functions would not be
restrained by sovereign national borders. However,
decisions to address urgent environmental problems
are still guided by the incremental and discretionary
jurisprudence of international conventions
(well established). Since the 1970s, international
environmental law has been constantly developed and
enriched to account for both the progress of science
and environmental degradation. Nonetheless, global
ecological deterioration, including climate change, is
continuing (well established). Creating a proactive, new
ground for international negotiation could be a first step
to facilitate reversing land degradation, from which new
jurisprudence could arise. This would include overcoming
the old “environment versus development” dilemma
and foster cooperation policies motivated by a common
interest {2.2.4.1}. “Ecological solidarity” is a promising
legal principle, which could renew the perception
of the links between humans and their environment
{2.2.4.3}. This principle embraces three dimensions:
it recognizes the planetary interconnectedness of
ecosystems and ecological process {2.2.1.3}; it may
foster intergovernmental negotiations based on global
and mutual solidarity; and it has a fundamental moral
meaning emphasizing the common fate of humankind
and all living beings {2.3.1.2}. If human progress was
understood through these dimensions, efforts to prevent
land degradation and to restore degraded land might
be facilitated.
A global consensus on the definition and baseline for
land degradation does not exist (well established),
precluding sound scientific assessment of the extent
and severity of global degradation, as well as the
possibility of measuring success towards quantitative
restoration targets such as Aichi Biodiversity Target
15 reinforced in Sustainable Development Goal
15 (established but incomplete). Quantifying land
degradation and its reversal through restoration requires
assessment of the geographic extent and severity of
damage at the current and restored state of the ecosystem,
against a baseline (well established) {2.2.1.1}. Lack of
consensus over baselines has led to debates over what
constitutes degradation and subsequently to inconsistent
estimates of the extent and severity of land degradation
{2.2.1.2} (Figure 2.5, Figure 2.7, Figure 2.8). This,
in its turn, resulted in differing interpretations of the
consequences of degradation for human well-being. To
overcome this challenge, a shared global baseline could be
adopted (well established) and a good candidate would be
2. CONCEPTS AND PERCEPTIONS OF LAND
DEGRADATION AND RESTORATION
57
THE ASSESSMENT REPORT ON LAND DEGRADATION AND RESTORATION
the natural state of ecosystems, deviation from which would
be degradation {2.2.1.1} (Figure 2.5) (established but
incomplete). Adopting natural state of ecosystems as the
baseline against which to measure the extent and severity
of degradation ensures a comparable assessment of land
degradation in general, and a fair assessment of success
in meeting the Aichi Biodiversity Targets across countries
at different stages of economic and social development.
Without this, more developed countries – that have
transformed much of their environment centuries ago – are
able, in practice, to assume much less ambitious restoration
measures than less developed countries {2.2.1.1}
(Figure 2.5). For the aspiration to achieve land degradation
neutrality by 2030, as agreed in SDG 15.3, the baseline
for assessing success is different, namely the state of the
ecosystems at 2030.
... Rosenau (1990) argues that while the nation-state has traditionally buffered civil society from the excesses of capital, there is no such protection at the global level. Ward et al (1995) contend that the role of agricultural protection is diminishing in association with a secular redefinition of the social functions of rural space to encompass distinctive consumption roles (such as residence, recreation, leisure, and environmental conservation). ...
Globalization, as a process, analyzed in consideration of communicative instruments, development possibilities, and the expanded nature of capitalism. The purpose of this study was to investigate impacts of globalization on economical and cultural aspects of rural communities in Kermanshah Township. The study represented correlation research. The statistical population of this research was selected among 700 villages located in Kermanshah Township. Among these, 30 villages were selected in three different regions for gathering data by multi-stage sampling. For data analysis multivariate procedures were used. This research examined eight factors of agro-industrialization, increasing in poverty and inequality, change in employment patterns, economic restructuring, role of nation-state, role of media, cultural universalism, cultural particularize and their impacts on rural communities progress. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between independent and dependent variables (p<0.01). On the base of regression analysis independent variables can be predicted 62 percent of changes in dependent variable. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) certificated regression analysis results. Path analysis results showed that the model fitted the data with acceptable fit indices: chi square=5.341, p=0.376, RMSEA=0.013, CFI=1.000, NFI=0.992.
... Há modos de conhecimento competitivos, que representam compreensões parciais da realidade. 9 Ver Lowe (1992), Clark et al. (1994), Lowe et al. (1993), , Ward et al. (1995); Ward (1995) e Clark & Lowe (1992). ambiental; a das políticas públicas, numa integração de grupos de pressão, políticos, representantes das agroindústrias, funcionários do governo; e a arena científico-tecnológica, que integra membros dos institutos de pesquisa, cientistas trabalhando para a agroindústria e indústrias agroquímicas. ...
... Some have gone as far as to claim that the independent nation state is now a totally redundant category for understanding contemporary economic change in a globalised world economy (for a fuller discussion see Fagan & Le Heron 1994). Even if one assumes that the actions of the state are still effective in regulating local economic systems, the friction between prescribed policy and real effect is often significant or even overwhelming (Ward et al. 1995). More specifically for this study, identifying the state as a primary actor in agricultural change is probably less relevant for New Zealand than for the European situation which informs much of this discussion. ...
... Regionalization, we argue, has challenged the political -economic position of these interest groups in the system of agri-environmental governance, altering their access to funds, their corporatist status with governments and their own internal sectoral politics and practices of representation. Experience in Europe and the UK has shown that national farmer unions can be effective in their efforts to obstruct, prevent or pay lipservice to agricultural development or environment programmes they believe do not meet their political goals, including ones that rely on regionalization (Trouve & Berriet-Solliec, 2010;Ward et al., 1995Ward et al., , 1998. As such, the conflicts between sectoral and regional modes of operation we explore in this paper have important implications for the prospect of effective implementation of environmental policy involving organized rural interests. ...
Investigations of agri-environmental programmes and their implementation often overlook the contribution of agri-political organizations (APOs). They focus instead upon the experiences of individual farmers, or the potential of farmers to be environmental stewards, the strategies or particular policy instruments employed by governments, or the workings of cooperative planning committees at river basin scales. Over the last decade in Australia, the influence and involvement of APOs in initiatives such as regional natural resource planning and the implementation of water quality policies has increased markedly but has remained largely under-researched. This paper indicates the ways these groups are becoming more embedded in the politics and operation of environmental governance and outlines the new and contested roles these groups are now playing in Australian rural landscapes. Using the case of the ongoing implementation of the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, the paper explores tensions in the current arrangements and considers implications for ongoing participation of the farming sector in environmental governance. These tensions revolve around challenges to APOs’ traditional dialogic practices; interest-based models of representation; and their capacity to align with and operate within new territorial spaces of policy implementation, such as regions.
... Ward et al. suggested that farmers responded in an 'addon' and 'end-of-pipe' way rather than seriously engaging with the sources of pollution. Similarly, Ward et al. (1995;1207) reported that "the group felt that agricultural pollution was far less of a problem than industrial pollution and suspected that farmers were being more strictly regulated because they were 'easy targets'. This refusal to accept the 'pollution' framing for farming activities is not restricted to the dairy farms studied by Ward et al. (1998). ...
Methane emissions from sheep and cattle production have gained increasing profile in the context of climate change. Policy and scientific research communities have suggested a number of technological approaches to mitigate these emissions. This paper uses the concept of co-production as an analytical framework to understand farmers’ evaluation of a 'good animal’. It examines how technology and sheep and beef cattle are co-produced in the context of concerns about the climate change impact of methane. Drawing on 42 semi-structured interviews, this paper demonstrates that methane emissions are viewed as a natural and integral part of sheep and beef cattle by farmers, rather than as a pollutant. Sheep and beef cattle farmers in the UK are found to be an extremely heterogeneous group that need to be understood in their specific social, environmental and consumer contexts. Some are more amenable to appropriating methane reducing measures than others, but largely because animals are already co-constructed from the natural and the technical for reasons of increased production efficiency.
... Few would argue against the notion that environmental regulations in agriculture have increased in the last two decades, especially with regard to farm pollution controls (Ward et al., 1995;Lowe et al., 1997), and more formally established (but not necessarily effective) protection of wildlife sites (Adams, 1986;Winter, 1996;Evans, 2000). Even here, progress is far from even. ...
Abstract It has become,fashionable to conceptualiserecent shifts in agrarian priorities as a „post- productivist‟ transition from a previously „productivist‟ agriculture. This notion has become,more popular throughout the 1990s as a way to capture in one convenient package the complex,changes experienced by both the agricultural sector specifically and rural areas more generally. However, the widespread and uncritical use of such an all- encompassing,term is rather surprising given debates elsewhere in human geography,on the rejection of dualistic thinking. Yet, in agricultural and rural studies, the active creation and reinforcement of a productivist / post-productivist dualism has emerged,as a means of explaining the uneven development,of rural areas. This paper develops a critique of post-productivism to demonstrate its invalidity, presenting empirical evidence to refute five supposed characteristics relating to quality food, pluriactivity;
... For example, the price of agricultural land may be in ated by high demand from 'life-stylers' migrating from urban centres, while rural gentri cation may lead to fragmented land ownership and increased human presence and disturbance of local ecosystems (Riebsame et al. 1996). In such situations, local populations and migrants (second home, temporary and permanent) may occupy a 'shared but separate' geographic space with substantial implications for local community institutions (Halseth 1993;Lowe et al. 1993;Phillips 1993), including environmental and political issues (Halseth and Rosenberg 1995;Ward To ur ism a nd m igrat io n rel at io ns hi ps 19 et al. 1995) and longer-term sustainability (Flynn and Marsden 1995). For example, viticultural practices (including the use of bird-scarers and helicopters) may not be welcome by second home owners who are attracted by tranquil images of vineyards in pleasant rural areas. ...
There is weak conceptualization of the differentiation between migration and tourism, which has contributed to relative neglect of the relationships between these. This paper examines some of the major influences on these relationships, dividing them into two general but inter-linked categories: broad economic and social trajectories, and tourism factors. A number of specific forms of tourism-related migration are then examined in the context of these social and economic trajectories. The paper explores labour migration, return migration, entrepreneurial migration, retirement migration, and the special feature of second homes. It concludes by emphasizing the need to place studies of the links between tourism and migration more firmly into wider social science debates, and by setting out some fruitful lines of future research.
... Such constructions of rurality have wider currency, bearing close resemblance, for instance, to aspects of both the 'move-in for self' and 'move-in and join-in' households identified by Cloke et al (1995; and, even more generally, to Short's (1991, p. xvi) 'environmental myths' of 'wilderness' and 'countryside'. Other work has highlighted how some rural residents value 'green views' (Phillips 2001a;Phillips et al. 2001), evaluating the countryside as an aesthetic landscape and in some cases supporting the development of highly manufactured green spaces such as golfcourses and leisure complexes as a means of retaining and even enhancing rurality (see also Thrift 1987), while other rural residents very much view the countryside as a place of ecological nature, valuing its 'wild' flora and fauna and the 'purity' of its atmosphere and waterways (see Lowe et al. 1997;Macnaghten and Urry 1998;Phillips and Mighall 2000;Ward et al. 1998;Ward et al. 1995).Yet other people value spaces of nature of nature in the countryside for amenity functions and the facilitation of companionship, friendship, and senses of community, tradition, identity and spirituality (Etzioni 1998;Harrison 1991;Schama 1995). Smith and Phillips' (2001, p. 460) claim that greentrifiers are attracted to "village and landscapes synonymous with working farms, country lanes, green fields and sheep" may furthermore connect to the broader arguments of people such as Tovey (2003) and Jones (2003) about the significance of domesticated animals within rural life. ...
... Secondly, there has been a brief phase attempting to establish the characteristics of the PPT. According to Ilbery and Evans (1996), the remaining characteristics of the PPT encompasses: a shift in emphasis away from quantity towards quality in food production Marsden, 1998b); the growth of alternative farm enterprises, conceptualised as 'pluriactivity' (Ilbery, 1991;Evans and Ilbery, 1993); state efforts to encourage a return to more traditional, sustainable farming systems through agri-environmental policy (Wilson, 1996;Ilbery et al. 1997); the growing environmental regulation of agriculture (Robinson, 1991;Ward et al., 1995); and the progressive withdrawal of support for agriculture (Winter, 1996), this latter characteristic being predominantly relegated to a contextual position within agri-environmental research. Thirdly, the PPT has most recently become the subject of process-oriented theorization. ...
Summary Future research directions for agricultural geography were the subject of debate in Area in the late 1980s, and the subsequent application of political economy ideas undoubtedly revived interest in agricultural research. This paper argues that agricultural geography contains greater diversity than the dominant political economy discourse would suggest. It reviews ‘other’ areas of agricultural research such as policy, post- productivism, people, culture and animals, presenting future suggestions which should ensure that agricultural research continues revitalized rather than redundant into the next millennium.
... The question for many of the local residents becomes one of spatial resistance -through , for instance the use of and participation in the planning system and formal preservation societies --to potential forms of development. Ward et al. (1995) and Flynn and Lowe (1995) describe vividly, for instance, how in the contested countryside of rural Devon, agricultural concerns are increasingly voiced by the newer rural non-farming residents as more of them adopt a preservationist and conservationist position, involving the newer environmental agencies like the National River Authority (now the Environmental Agency). ...
Taking the differentiating countryside as a major feature of rural spatial change, this paper explores some of the key development spheres which are influencing the process of differentiation with reference to the British case. Combinations of local and non-local networks, supply chains and regulatory systems incorporate different rural spaces. Four particular development spheres: mass food markets, quality food markets, agriculturally related changes and rural restructuring implicate, in their different combinations, the different rural spaces. This analytical framework raises some important concerns for the governance of differentiating rural space in its regional context. In particular, it suggests that notions of integration and holism of rural spaces will be difficult to achieve; and that governance and regulation becomes highly variable according to the relative significance of local/non-local networks. In conclusion, the implications of the analysis are examined in relation to the growing rural development policy discourse. This suggests the need for more regionally and spatially orientated policy which is more customized to the internal and external conditions different regional-rural spaces experience.
Diverse public policies encourage farmers to adopt eco-friendly practices to address the issue of diffuse pollution from agriculture, including measures based on the provision of information on the environment. Indeed, farmers’ perception of the state of the water body and their awareness of the causes and consequences of water pollution affect their willingness to adopt eco-friendly farming practices. Public policies therefore have a role to play in disseminating environmental information. In this article, we investigate how information measures may exert influence on changes in farming practices and thereby water pollution. We extend an existing agent-based model of a social-ecological system representing a drinking water catchment area. In the decision-making process based on the theory of planned behaviour we integrate a dynamical environmental component of farmers’ attitude towards eco-friendly practices, in order to take into account the effect of information on the ecological system. We explore the impact of information measures, heterogeneity in farmers’ environmental preferences and variations in the initial level of water pollution on farmers’ participation to a water catchment protection programme. Our results show that: (1) targeting farmers who have higher environmental preferences is more effective than no targeting; (2) the heterogeneity in farmers’ environmental preferences impacts their involvement in the programme depending on the average environmental preferences; (3) the higher the initial pollution, the higher the farmers are involved in the protection programme; (4) when two different measures are combined, once a certain threshold of public awareness is reached, there is a synergy between them.
New forms of mobility can be found at many scales from the local and national to the global. They also include all age ranges but particularly those near the polar extremes of the life course — young, single adults and the active elderly (in contrast, families with young children and the frail elderly tend to be some of the least mobile socio-demographic groups). The heroes of this new mobility are figures such as the young New Zealanders or Australians taking their Big OE (Overseas Experience) in Europe, or the partly retired Canadian living a peripatetic life style between Toronto and Florida, or the German and Swedish long-term travelers visiting organic farms around the world. All straddle not only international boundaries but also the worlds of work and leisure, and so of tourism and migration. There is probably no finer example of this blurring of the spheres of consumption and production than Chris Stewart, the British author, farmer and ex rock-musician, who migrated from Britain to the Alpujarras mountains in southern Spain. In his best selling book, Driving Over Lemons, he describes their purchase of a near derelict farm house, and the love, pleasure and sheer hard labour that went into its renovation. His income is supplemented by stints working as a sheep shearer in Sweden, a form of circulation that parallels occasional visits to and from friends and relatives in the UK.
Backyard burning of domestic waste in rural areas of the United States has quietly emerged as a serious waste management issue due to increasing levels of synthetic chemicals in domestic waste. Several recent U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies have found per unit emissions to contain high concentrations of hor monally active organochlorine compounds, indicating a clear public health threat. W hile urban to rural migration has contributed to pressure on local and state policymakers to ban the practice, rising rural waste disposal costs have created greater incentives to burn in areas where it is still legal. Currently there is no federal regulation of backyard burning, resulting in a patchwork of protection at the state and local levels. Recent events in New York suggest that state-level bans are difficult to achieve. In part this is because the public health impacts of burning are almost impossible to empirically measure. In order to provide all U.S. citizens with equal protection of the law, a national ban under Rural Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) authority is needed.
It has long been acknowledged that the notion of family continuity of farm occupation through succession is one of the central tenets of the ethos of ‘family’ farming, but recent evidence suggests that it is being called into question by family members. Farming practices are being pursued in a rapidly changing world, an important feature of which is a greater level of public and political concern for protecting the rural environment. This paper examines a range of new influences affecting farming practice and environmental consciousness and the implications these have for farming values, particularly that of family succession. Using evidence from a study of dairy farm families and pollution regulation in Devon in South West England, it suggests that rural social change is providing new routes through which environmental values can flow through farm households, influencing the ways farmers understand the environmental implications of their practices, and the ways they and their families think about their long-term futures.
Much practically orientated environmental research is marked by a polarity between functionalist abstraction and ahistorical normative discourse. This paper seeks to bridge the divide between theoretical and empirical research through a case study of New York City's water supply. Current processes of socio-economic restructuring are leading to negative environmental consequences obscured by a failure to extend analysis beyond limited temporal, spatial or sectoral scales. Insights from regulationist theory show that a combination of fiscal, political and other developments are bringing about a wide-ranging reformulation of existing patterns of environmental regulation and service provision in the city. The power of the state is being radically diminished in relation to the power of capital and a plethora of different interest groups. A relatively simple centralized model of environmental regulation is being transformed into a complex decentralized pattern involving the emergence of new approaches to urban governance. Further research is needed on the contradictions between capitalist accumulation and environmental regulation at different spatial scales in order to link New York's changing role within the global economy to the declining political legitimacy and fiscal capability of the state to play an extensive role in environmental management.
In the context of declining government subsidization of agriculture, many analysts have predicted reversals in certain characteristic trends of post-1945 Western agriculture with positive implications for agroecosystem well-being. One example, investigated herein, is the suggestion that, in the absence of government safety nets, farmers will seek to diversify their operations in order to buffer against production failures or market downturns in any one output. Such a shift is not only consistent with agricultural risk-management theory, but also, at first glance, early ‘mirror image’ conceptualizations of post-productivist agriculture; if (output) specialization has been an observed trend of productivism, then (output) diversification should be the trend of post-productivism. In fairness, however, where diversification has been identified as a manifestation of post-productivism, it has usually implied the development of largely non-agricultural activities that supplement household income. Clearly, a clarification of meaning is needed, and this paper offer some suggestions for doing so. Additionally, crop data from Saskatchewan, Canada are analysed for the years 1994–2000 to determine the degree to which arable producers there have sought to diversify their operations following the loss of an historically and financially significant export subsidy. Given limited evidence of diversification at the level of individual farms, the maximum scale at which crop diversity has any significance in ecological terms, a discussion follows of the various limitations to adopting an output diversification strategy to manage market and other risks, and the likelihood of farmers further pursuing output specialization in an era of reduced government support and increasingly chaotic commodity markets.
What has been the main model of the agri‐environmental policy in Finland, and what kinds of interests has the policy promoted? Answers can be suggested by identifying political and cultural factors which have effects on the agricultural pollution issue, and by adopting a policy network approach using the concepts of policy community and issue network. On the one hand, the main model of the Finnish agri‐environmental policy has been stable. This is primarily explained by the strength of agricultural interests in the Finnish society. On the other hand, there are signs of the emergence of ecology in Finnish agriculture. Ecological discourses have spread rapidly to agricultural policies, and there is also an increasing agreement that agriculture should be paid for ecological services. These new policy elements are linked especially to Finnish membership in the European Union. Thus, the primary force, which has promoted environmental protection in Finnish agriculture, has mainly been economic. However, additional research is needed to clarify the effect of European agri‐environmental policy‐making on the Finnish case.
Continuing criticism of the term ‘sustainable development’ deflects attention from the political project that has to underpin shifts in human behaviour. It is more important to redefine the roles and functions of public and private institutions in ways that legitimate sustainable actions in the belief that latent public support for environmental protection can be converted into a widening range of new but customary behaviours. A brief review of the UK government's response to the Rio declaration demonstrates faltering purpose, reinforcing and reflecting public distrust of government and those commercial interests that benefit from the status quo. Only very modest comfort can be taken from its limited initiatives which range from the greater dissemination of information to the setting of some environmental targets. The unwillingness of government to promote major fiscal or financial reforms, or significantly to decentralize power and initiative, or to recognize the limitations to scientific knowledge when seeking the bases to ‘rational’ decision-making in the face of uncertainty, reveal the inadequacy of the steps so far taken.
This study investigates factors influencing farmers' motivations for participation in the Cambrian Mountains ESA scheme (Wales, U.K.). Emphasis is placed on analysing whether significant correlations exist between ESA participation and specific factors. A behavioural approach is used for analysis, largely based on Brotherton's classification into “scheme factors” (e.g. payments) and “farmer factors” (e.g. age of farmer), but which expands this classification by including the “information environment” of a farmer and “dynamics within the farm district”—variables which this study shares with some actor-network approaches. While size and existence of remnant wildlife habitats were strongly correlated with overall participation, payments offered by the scheme, information provided by ADAS, scheme flexibility, the “successors factor” and dynamics within the district were of particular importance for participation on farms of marginal ESA eligibility (i.e. small farms lacking substantial semi-natural habitats). Age, education and length of residency were important for explaining differential entering of specific habitats (especially broadleaved woodlands) into the ESA scheme, while scheme duration, dependence on the farm for income, tenure and the general information environment of the farmer did not influence overall participation. The paper concludes by arguing that a behavioural approach offers a valuable insight into farmers' decision-making behaviour with regard to participation in agri-environmental schemes, and that this study may be seen as a starting point that could be expanded through the use of related methodologies.
This paper examines the relationship between British agriculture and the rural environment and takes as its focal point the notion of an "agricultural treadmill', a frequently-used term in explanations of the capitalist development of agriculture. Agricultural policy was in harmony with the function of the treadmill for most of the post-war period. Policy priorities began to change in the EC and in member countries during the 1980s, however, as a result of budgetary crises, over-production and the damage inflicted on the rural environment. How are the workings of the so-called "agricultural treadmill' being transformed in this "post-productivist' period? What are the implications of this transformation for the rural environment? These are the central questions that the paper seeks to address. -from Author
After over a decade of leading research work which has examined the political economy and globalization of the ‘industrial’ agro-food system it is clear that there are now important new challenges associated with the incorporation of nature, consumption and alternative food networks. Taking David Goodman's recent paper (Sociologia Ruralis 1999, no. 1) as a starting point, this discussion not cautions against a premature and over-generalized rejection of political economy on the basis of concepts based upon actor-network theory. Questions of food governance expose the asymmetry in power relations in food networks, whether conventional or alternative. Moreover, while accepting the need to examine the ‘hybridity’ of nature-society relations, this needs to be done in ways which expose the degree of interconnection through the development of micro-analytical research and the development of ‘middle-level’ concepts.
Despite a recent emphasis on conflicts in rural areas, differences between members of the farming community over issues such as conservation remain to be fully explored. Focusing upon rare breeds of domestic farm animals, this paper investigates the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (rbst)and discusses its importance in the politicization of livestock.Actor network theory is used to provide a framework to analyse the development of rbst .Two phases of operation are evident, representing a shift from emergency measures towards a proactive strategy for livestock breed conservation. In both periods, there are ‘moments’ of problematization, interessement, enrolement and mobilization which establish the rbst as a powerful actor at the centre of a rare breeds network. Such has been the influence of the Trust that remarkably little conflict over the conservation of rare breeds has arisen. Rbst appeals to both farmers and conservationists,but success through increasing animal numbers and a lack of political effectiveness are found to be forces undermining its position of power in the network. Further questions are raised about the manipulation of animals to support political objectives.
This paper has evolved out of a growing dissatisfaction with the relatively uncritical acceptance in contemporary debates that agriculture in advanced societies has moved from ‘productivism’ to ‘post-productivism’. A brief review of current conceptualizations of productivist and post-productivist agricultural regimes reveals inconsistencies in current understandings these dualistic terms. The problem has partly been that the conceptual literature on post-productivism has largely failed to take into account the wealth of actor-oriented and behaviourally grounded research. Productivist and post-productivist agricultural regimes have also been conceptualized from a UK-centric perspective that has largely failed to discuss whether the concept has wider applicability within Europe and beyond. The paper discusses the time-lag and spatial inconsistencies in the adoption of post-productivist action and thought, and emphasizes that different localities are positioned at different points in a temporal, spatial and conceptual transition from ‘pre-productivist’ to ‘post-productivist’ agricultural regimes. The notion of the ‘territorialization’ of productivist and post-productivist actor spaces highlights the wide-ranging diversity that exists within the productivist/post-productivist spectrum, and that productivist and post-productivist action and thought occurs in multidimensional coexistence leads one to question the implied directionality of the traditional productivist/post-productivist debate. It is suggested that the notion of a ‘multifunctional agricultural regime’ better encapsulates the diversity, non-linearity and spatial heterogeneity that can currently be observed in modern agriculture and rural society.
Recent structural shifts towards enlargement and intensification in the farm sector in Canada have drawn attention to the changing relationship between farming and the rural community. While some developments in farming are implicated in increasing conflict with communities, others may be fostering the need for stronger linkages. A more nuanced understanding of change in both the family farm and community sectors would contribute to a better appreciation of these evolving linkages. This paper explores contemporary change on the farm side, with attention to the nature and causes of diversity in a local family farming system. Data from a survey of family farms in northern Huron County, Ontario, were used to document variations in farm development trajectories and to explore the interactive importance of factors relating to the farm economy, the farm business and the household. The research invokes a pathways conceptualisation and the theory of business and family life cycles in attempting to characterise and attribute change. Revealed trajectories range from aggressive engagement in expansion, diligent efforts to 'hang on' and forced or voluntary contraction. In addition, the paper presents two brief farm history case studies as a means of demonstrating the interaction of farm business and household factors through the lived experience of farm families. Revealed diversity in family farm business trajectories suggests an increasingly differentiated set of linkages and dependencies between farm and community.
The paper aims to make a contribution towards addressing the current paucity of academic reflection on second home development
in South Africa. The paper focuses on the intersection between tourism, second homes and local development, as embodied in
the empirical realities of a Cape Town neighbourhood — De Waterkant. It is argued that this particular case study presents
an example of the types of local development impacts that second home expansion holds for host communities. These impacts
include employment generation, urban conservation, a range of forward and backward economic linkages, as well as a flexible
tourist accommodation supply. Moreover, the case study elucidates an interesting example of second homes as sites of simultaneous
tourism space production and consumption at work.
Voluntary agri-environmental schemes based on management agreements characterise much agri-environmental policy across the EU at present, and have expanded following the implementation of Regulation 2078/92 in all member states. Schemes generally motivate individual farmers to contract with government agencies to produce countryside goods in return for compensatory payments. Hence, farmers’ decisions to participate are central to achieving policy objectives. An enhanced understanding of farmers’ attitudes to and perceptions of schemes and their implementation would be of value for policy development. Recent transactions-cost research has observed that such schemes involve potentially heavy transactions costs, for both the state and farmers. In addition to reducing scheme cost-effectiveness, the transactions costs incurred by farmers can form a significant constraint on participation in schemes, with adverse effects on the supply of conservation goods. This paper considers behavioural and transactional perspectives on scheme participation. Some new data on the transactional burdens experienced by farmers when participating in schemes is examined from the perspective of identifying ways to improve policy transacting to ease constraints on participation where these exist. At the level of the individual participant, the development of agri-environmental one-stop-shops in member states for all schemes would allow transactions-cost economies, saving on the overhead costs of applying to different schemes with different objectives, as well as allowing a more integrated, less confused approach to participation. The longer-term value of farmer networks and capacity-building for agri-environmental management is important too.
In North America and elsewhere it is frequently asserted that changes in rural society have led to an economic and social ‘decoupling’ of agriculture from the wider rural community. Casual analysis of contemporary media reporting and popular discourse would suggest that interactions between the two spheres are as often characterized by neglect or conflict as by complementarity and collaboration. However, scholarly interpretation of evolving relations between farming and the wider rural community, and whether these constitute a trend to relinking or decoupling, has remained elusive and problematic. This paper advocates for and articulates a case study approach to the analysis of ‘ambiguous interdependency’ at the local level. Specifically, it is argued that much can be learned from a comparative analysis of farm and town views of sector-specific development trajectories and of implications for agriculture–community linkages. Insights obtained from in-depth interviews with 68 farm and town residents of South Huron County, Ontario, suggest a strong tendency for farmers to undervalue their importance and influence within the local community, but also highlight certain consequences of ongoing agricultural change and recent municipal restructuring that point toward the continued reshaping of agricultural community linkages. The research suggests both points of convergence and divergence that may be valuable in understanding, and perhaps managing, future development at the local scale and beyond.
In rapidly-growing rural areas, new demands for provision of environmental and recreational goods and services have been accompanied by governmental policies and programs designed to involve non-governmental organizations (NGOs) directly in environmental decision-making and day-to-day management. In this paper, it is argued that certain local-level NGOs have become increasingly influential in the provision of environmental goods and services locally by combining their understanding of policy-making, with an awareness of local environmental issues and opportunities for specific projects. By developing a four-part framework, the term ‘exchange agents’ presented by Lowe et al. (1993) is adapted and developed to explain the means by which NGOs gain influence in environmental management. The framework focuses attention on the changing character of rural areas, NGO roles and orientations, networking among NGOs and funding partnerships between NGOs and public agencies. The framework is used to explain the differential influence of local-level NGOs in the Squamish Forest District, located near Vancouver, Canada. From this analysis some cautions are raised about ‘community stewardship’, the rubric by which local-level environmental policies and programs are currently implemented.
It has been suggested that regulatory analysis and regulation theory provide appropriate foundations for the analysis of the sustainability problematic. We accept these claims and in this paper provide an interrogation, founded in the literature on ‘real’ regulation, of a judicial decision concerning the allocation of water resources to farm irrigation in Northland, Aoteroa/New Zealand. The fact that ‘sustainable management’ has been inscribed in that country's resource management legislation has given focus to social contests over the meaning and interpretation of sustainability. We outline the legislative framework and then provide a description of the contests over the allocation of water to dairy pasture irrigation. Competing interpretations of ‘sustainable management’ were at the centre of these contests. We then attempt to characterise ‘regulatory space’. In the discussion we emphasise the social construction of sustainability and the legitimation of competing interpretations through the courts and other fora. We also refer to the geography of regulation, noting that regulatory processes and their outcomes are defined spatially. Lefebvre's concept of representational space and the Lefebvrian and Foucaultian notion of sites of resistance help us to interrogate competing perspectives on sustainability.
Recent research on community tourism has adapted organizational theories to tourism contexts. This paper contributes to these efforts by identifying how power relations affect attempts at community-based tourism planning. The proposed conceptual framework focuses on power relations within three policy arenas. A citizen-based tourism planning process in Squamish, Canada, is discussed to illustrate how the framework might be applied. It is concluded that power relations are endemic features of emergent tourism settings. As such, it is unlikely that independent agencies can be identified to convene differences in power across stakeholder groups. Therefore, research should focus on explaining the impacts of power relations on community-based tourism rather than identifying mechanisms to disperse power.RésuméLes relations de pouvoir et la planification communautaire due tourisme. Des recherche récentes sur le tourisme communautaire ont adaptéà leurs contextes des théories organisationnelles. Cet article propose un cadre conceptuel pour examiner comment les relations de pouvoir influencent la planification communautaire du tourisme dans trois arènes de gestion. On présente l'exemple d'un processus de planification mené par les habitants de Squamish (Canada). On suggère que les relations de pouvoir sont endémiques dans les contextes développants. Il serait difficile d'identifier des agences indépendantes qui pourraient convoquer les intéressés et servir d'intermédiaire entre leurs différences de pouvoir. La recherche devrait donc se concentrer sur l'explication des impacts des relations de pouvoir sur le tourisme communautaire plutôt que sur l'identification des mécanismes pour disperser le pouvoir.
This study analyses the importance of farmers' environmental attitudes for (non)-participation in the Cambrian Mountains ESA scheme. It highlights that age, education, length of residency, farming philosophy and the existence of remnant semi-natural habitats on farms are important variables explaining farmers' dispositions toward conservation and participation behaviour in the ESA scheme. An expansion of Morris and Potter's (1995) concept of a ‘participation spectrum’ is suggested that also considers the position of a farm on a spectrum of ESA eligibility. It is argued that farmers' environmental attitudes are most relevant on farms of marginal ESA eligibility where conservation-oriented attitudes may tip the balance toward participation. In order to increase participation, it is suggested that policy makers and those administering the Cambrian Mountains ESA scheme specifically target this group of non-participants.
This paper examines the findings of research undertaken in the Southwest of England during 1992–1993, the aim of which was to explore the socio-economic and geographical circumstances of farms participating in agro-environment schemes. The research found that ‘traditional’ farming was crucial to the schemes, in terms of scheme objectives and the profile of participants. As such, ‘traditional’ farming systems could be said to represent an ideal type of environment-friendly farming system, and one that, in the Southwest at least, current agro-environment schemes in some way help to support. The paper concludes that traditional farming systems should form a much larger and more focused part of agro-environment policy.
Conflicts over water quality regulation are entering local economic development policy and re-shaping political–economic landscapes. Across the United States, decentralizing scales of regulation, scientific uncertainty, and increasing citizen participation are creating new regulatory contexts. Using regime and regulation theory, I address how regulation of the environment is altering economic regimes and creating new alliances among stakeholders. The research shows the dominant regime in the state of Ohio, a pro-growth stakeholder coalition between point source businesses (including electric utilities and municipal sewage treatment plants) and real estate development interests, is fragmenting. At the same time, there is a policy coalition emerging between environmentalists and government staff that is advocating for nonpoint source water pollution regulation. These emergent coalitions exemplify the changing nature of environmental regulation and economic regimes.
It has long been acknowledged that the notion of family continuity of farm occupation through succession is one of the central tenets of the ethos of ‘family’ farming, but recent evidence suggests that it is being called into question by family members. Farming practices are being pursued in a rapidly changing world, an important feature of which is a greater level of public and political concern for protecting the rural environment. This paper examines a range of new influences affecting farming practice and environmental consciousness and the implications these have for farming values, particularly that of family succession. Using evidence from a study of dairy farm families and pollution regulation in Devon in South West England, it suggests that rural social change is providing new routes through which environmental values can flow through farm households, influencing the ways farmers understand the environmental implications of their practices, and the ways they and their families think about their long-term futures.