Animal disease and narratives of nature: Farmers' reactions to the neoliberal governance of bovine Tuberculosis

This paper examines the relationship between neoliberal styles of animal disease governance and farmers' understandings of disease and nature. In the UK, new styles of animal disease governance has promised to shift the costs and responsibilities of disease management to farmers, creating opportunities for farmers to take responsibility for disease control themselves and opening up new markets for disease control interventions. Focussing on the management of bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) and drawing on interviews with 65 cattle farmers, the paper examines how farmer responses to these new styles of animal disease governance are shaped by their own knowledges and understandings of nature and disease. In particular, the paper examines how two key narratives of nature – the idea of ‘natural balance’ and ‘clean and dirty badgers’ – lead farmers to think about the control of bTB in wildlife (such as the choice between badger culling and/or vaccination) in very specific ways. However, whilst discourses of cost and responsibility appear to open up choice opportunities for farmers, that choice is constrained when viewed from the perspective of farmer subjectivities and narratives of nature. Discourses of neoliberalism as control rather than choice are therefore revealed, drawing attention to the complexities and plural strategies of neoliberal governance

Public attitudes to badger culling to control bovine tuberculosis in rural Wales

This paper examines public attitudes to wildlife control to prevent the transmission of disease between wild and farmed animals. In Great Britain, there has been considerable controversy amongst farmers, the public, scientists and politicians over the role of badger culling in the management of bovine tuberculosis. This paper examines public attitudes to badger culling in rural Wales, the reasons why culling is rejected and/or accepted and the level of trust the public place in different organisations responsible for badger culling. Variations in public attitudes between areas of differing degrees of rurality and disease incidence are analysed. Results indicate moderate levels of support for badger culling, but respondents do not believe the current scientific evidence on the effectiveness of a cull is acceptable. Respondents in rural fringe areas and low disease incidence are more likely to favour badger vaccination. The results have implications for future policy and methods of communicating wildlife control policies to the public