Explaining Regional and Local Differences in Organic Farming in England and Wales: A Comparison of South West Wales and South East England

Explaining regional and local differences in organic farming in England and Wales: a comparison of South West Wales and South East England, Regional Studies, Few studies explain the concentration of organic farming in specific regions of England and Wales. This paper compares the development of organic farming in South West Wales and South East England. While the focus in the former is on the use of mainly national marketing channels and the movement of organic produce more than 60 min from the farm, in the latter greater use is made of local and direct marketing channels to distribute organic food within 30 min of the farm. The overriding importance of demand appears to provide a key explanation for regional differentiation in organic farming. 解释英格兰与威尔斯有机农业的区域及地方差异：西南威尔斯与东南英格兰的比较研究，区域研究。显少有研究解释有机农业在英格兰及威尔斯特定区域中的集中现象。本文比较有机农业在西南威尔斯与东南英格兰的发展。西南威尔斯的发展重点，主要在于利用全国行销通路，以及距离农场超过六十分钟的有机产品运送路程，东南英格兰则较着重运用在地且直接的行销通路，在距离农场三十分钟以内的运送路程中分派有机食品。需求的压倒性重要性，似乎提供了有机农业中的区域差异的关键解释。 Expliquer les disparités régionales dans l'agriculture biologique en Angleterre et au pays de Galles: une comparaison du sud-ouest du pays de Galles et du sud-est de l'Angleterre, Regional Studies. Rares sont les études qui expliquent la concentration de l'agriculture biologique dans des zones spécifiques de l'Angleterre et du pays de Galles. Cet article cherche à comparer le développement de l'agriculture biologique du sud-ouest du pays de Galles à celle du sud-est de l'Angleterre. Tandis que celle-là met l'accent sur l'emploi des circuits commerciaux principalement nationaux et sur la distribution de la production agricole biologique à plus de 60 minutes de la ferme, celle-ci exploite davantage les circuits commerciaux locaux et directs pour distribuer les denrées alimentaires organiques dans un rayon de 30 minutes de la ferme. Il semble que l'importance primordiale de la demande constitue un facteur déterminant de la différenciation régionale de l'agriculture biologique. Erklärung der regionalen und lokalen Unterschiede bei der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in England und Wales: ein Vergleich zwischen Südwestwales und Südostengland, Regional Studies. Die Konzentration der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in bestimmten Regionen von England und Wales wird nur in wenigen Studien erklärt. In diesem Beitrag vergleichen wir die Entwicklung der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in Südwestwales mit der von Südostengland. Während in Südwestwales der Schwerpunkt auf den größtenteils landesweiten Absatzkanälen und dem Transport von ökologischen Lebensmitteln an mehr als 60 Minuten vom landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb entfernte Orte liegt, werden in Südostengland öfter lokale und direkte Absatzkanäle genutzt und die ökologischen Lebensmittel an bis zu 30 Minuten vom landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb entfernte Orte transportiert. Die wichtigste Erklärung für die regionalen Unterschiede bei der ökologischen Landwirtschaft scheinen in der vorrangigen Bedeutung der Nachfrage zu liegen. Explicación de las diferencias regionales y locales en la agricultura biológica de Inglaterra y Gales: comparación entre el suroeste de Gales y el sureste de Inglaterra, Regional Studies. En pocos estudios se explica la concentración de la agricultura biológica en regiones específicas de Inglaterra y Gales. En este artículo comparamos el desarrollo de la agricultura biológica en el suroeste de Gales y el sureste de Inglaterra. Mientras que en el suroeste de Gales se hace hincapié en el uso de canales mercantiles principalmente nacionales y el movimiento de productos biológicos a una distancia de más de 60 minutos de la explotación agrícola, en el sureste de Inglaterra se utilizan más los canales mercantiles locales y directos para distribuir alimentos biológicos a no más de 30 minutos de la explotación agrícola. Parece ser que la demanda es el motivo más importante para explicar las diferencias regionales en la agricultura biológica

Food supply chains: the long and short of it

Inuagural lecture

‘I am pleased to shop somewhere that is fighting the supermarkets a little bit’. A cultural political economy of alternative food networks

This paper conducts a cultural political economy (CPE) analysis of consumers’ semiotic and material construals of alternative food networks (AFN). It starts by outlining, in the context of debate over AFN, why CPE is a useful analytical tool. The collection of talk data from 40 respondents, and food consumption data from 20 respondents, is outlined and explained. Talk data reveal that interviewees construe conventional and alternative food networks differently based on values relating to food quality judgements, provenance and trust, and alternativeness. Consumption data demonstrate respondents’ material engagement with conventional and, to a lesser extent, alternative food networks. The paper concludes that CPE is a productive framework for analysing AFN qua a subaltern economic imaginary, and that it can help to set them on ‘firmer’ ground, both ontologically and normatively

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

Badger vaccination: dimensions of trust and confidence in the governance of animal disease

This paper analyses the acceptance of new technologies to manage environmental risks. In the management of animal disease, lack of trust in Government is seen as a key factor in explaining farmers’ resistance to new biosecurity technologies and practices to help prevent disease. However, the conceptual dimensions of trust are frequently loosely defined meaning that it is unclear how trust, as well as other factors, are related to the acceptance of new animal disease technologies. This paper explores the dimensions of farmers’ trust in relation to the use of vaccines to manage animal disease, and the extent to which different dimensions of trust are linked to vaccine confidence. The paper examines the introduction of a vaccine to help prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis between wildlife (specifically badgers) and cattle in England. Drawing on findings from a telephone survey of 339 farmers and in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of 65, the paper explores attitudes towards, and levels of acceptance of, badger vaccination amongst farmers across five study areas with varying levels of disease. Results reveal low levels of confidence in badger vaccine and trust in Government to manage bovine tuberculosis. Principal components analysis identifies three specific dimensions to trust which, along with farmers’ perceived self-efficacy, the perceived threat of disease, and faith in others to manage disease, are all significantly related to farmers’ confidence in badger vaccination. The paper concludes by considering the challenges facing policy makers in attempting to ensure that animal disease technologies match the social and ecological landscapes for which they are intended

Interrogating food security and infectious animal and plant diseases: a critical introduction

As part of a themed section, this introductory paper provides critical insights into important social science debates associated with food security and animal/plant diseases. Continued volatility in the price of basic foodstuffs on international commodity markets has ensured that food security will be one of the ‘master frames’ of early twentieth century public policy. While increasing food production through ‘sustainable intensification’ characterises the essentially scientific solution to food (in)security issues, other ‘framings’ of food security are also important. These include providing access to affordable and good quality food, reducing food waste and encouraging more urban-based agriculture. Animal/plant diseases are a considerable threat to food security because of growing trade, travel, transport and tourism. A range of national/international and scientific control measures help to reduce the risk of disease spread, but micro-scale studies are needed to help understand the practicalities of applying biosecurity controls at local geographical scales