Livestock, Locality and Landscape: EU Regulations and the New Geography of Welsh Farm Animals

Abstract

Geographers and policy-makers alike have, until recently, ignored the importance of specific breeds of livestock in agricultural systems. However, the European Union has recently introduced a series of regulations aimed at protecting breeds of livestock with a local tradition. Some British rural agencies, notably the Countryside Council for Wales, have begun to consider how these measures can be included within rural development plans. Based on current thinking in ‘new animal geography’, this article highlights the conceptual and practical problems of defining and identifying breeds for inclusion in these policies. Through detailed mapping, it is demonstrated that Welsh livestock breeds tend to exhibit three distinct geographical patterns. These patterns have been reshaped by agricultural policy, increasingly to meet the goals of agri-environmental conservation. Through the case study of Wales, the paper concludes that applied geography can be used to increase the effectiveness of these policy measures, especially given their new emphases on breed and locality