Assessing the Efficacy of Transition Theory to Identify Industry Transformation: a case study examining the deregulation of Australia's dairy industry

Transformation is a key concept in social-ecological systems research, and transition theory in particular; however, the essential elements of a transformation are yet to be clearly articulated. This article explores the changes that took place when Australian governments deliberately set out to restructure the Australian dairy industry. Using the subtropical dairy industry as a case study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with industry stakeholders. Our analysis was structured around transition concepts thus testing the framework's efficacy. We found that deregulation substantially altered the culture of the industry and the structure and working practices of the production system, supply chain, industry organisations and government agencies. Transition theory and its concepts provided a useful framework to explain how systemic change transformed the industry. Transition theory identified the multi-scalar nature of the interactions between structure and practice and the social and power relationships that reinforced change.     

Changing Rural Spaces: Deregulation and the decline of tobacco farming in the Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation Area,Far North Queensland

The growing of tobacco was one of the most tightly regulated industries in Australia, until deregulation in 1995. Commonwealth regulations controlled the area cultivated with tobacco, the number of growers (i.e. quota holders) and marketing arrangements for tobacco leaf. This paper begins by outlining the nature and historical development of controls in the tobacco-growing industry, and discusses how the Commonwealth government removed the industry's regulatory and protective framework in 1995. The third part of the paper examines how deregulation has impacted upon the Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation Area, Far North Queensland, where small farmers produced 60 per cent of Australia's tobacco in 1995. The discussion will show that the agricultural landscape once dominated by tobacco has been transformed, as local farmers abandoned growing tobacco in favour of sugar cane, avocadoes, mangoes, macadamia nuts and other small vegetable crops (e.g. navy beans, pumpkins). Tobacco, once promoted by the Queensland government as a crop to facilitate closer settlement in the Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation Area, will have almost vanished from the landscape by 2002.     

The Potential for Rural Heritage Tourism in the Clarence Valley of Northern New South Wales

In the past, heritage tourism has been associated with urban sites but there is now an acceptance of the application of this concept to rural areas. In the Clarence Valley in northern New South Wales there is potential for an extension of agritourism associated with working dairy farms to include safari tours to clusters of dairy heritage sites which are scattered throughout the area. Remnants of the old dairy industry, which began in the Clarence River Valley of New South Wales in the late nineteenth century, are scattered throughout the landscape. Over 300 dairy milking bails remain—ghosts of the former thriving industry when over 2000 dairy farms were operating. Concrete foundations of some creameries built in the 1890s can still be found, and three factory buildings still stand. These relics are disappearing quite rapidly and if the importance of the industry is to be recognised by future generations then it seems that some heritage conservation is overdue. At the same time, in order to survive in a post-deregulated economic environment, the remaining 10 dairy farmers in the Clarence Valley are diversifying their activities, with one form of pluriactivity being agritourism. Currently few of these farmers have entered this field but most of them see its potential to broaden their income base. Associated with agritourism at the farm level, the local government authorities see heritage tourism as a way of increasing employment in the region.     

Continuity and Change: Amish Dairy Farming in Wisconsin Over The Past Decade

Changes in Amish dairy farming in Wisconsin over the past decade are seen in their growing numbers, the increased percentage of dairy farms that are Amish operated in the state, and the decreased share of the Amish population that is engaged in dairying. Use of technology in the Amish barn and fields represents both continuity and change. Among those Amish dairy farmers who utilize ten‐gallon milk cans to store and ship their milk, little change in use of modern technology has occurred, and their herds remain small. Among those Amish dairymen who have adopted bulk tanks for their milk, many have embraced a variety of additional technologies, including milking machines. These dairymen have increased their use of technology over the past decade, their herd sizes have increased, and they are more reliant upon milk sales for their income than Amish dairy farmers producing can milk. Keywords: agriculture, Amish, dairy farms, Wisconsin.     

Resident Attitudes to Farmland Protection Measures in the Northern Rivers Region,New South Wales

In-migration to popular ‘sea change’ and ‘tree change’ regions has produced conflicts between rural land users. In the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, new residential developments have been built on much of what was previously prime agricultural land, while farmers (in particular, those negatively affected by the deregulation of the dairy industry) have sought to secure retirement incomes by subdividing land for sale. Although developers, local councils and individual farmers sometimes see eye to eye on the mutual benefits of in-migration and population growth, land use has none the less become the subject of a hotly contested local political battle. Conflicts occur at the interface of growing urban developments and surrounding farmland, with new residents finding the sights, sounds and smells of rural production intrusive. More generally, there is considerable concern that the best farmland in the region may be lost to urbanisation and rural residential subdivision. This paper discusses the results of a survey that collected opinions from local residents about the pressures on the region's land uses by in-migration, the future role of farmland as both an economic and cultural landscape, and views on proposed measures to protect prime farmland in the region. Results highlighted a strong and consistent ‘pro-farmland’ and ‘pro-protection’ attitude throughout the region, and across social groups. Yet, variations emerged when respondents were asked about why they attribute value to agricultural landscapes. For some, ‘economic’ values dominated, while for others, value was attributed in ways that reflected an emerging ethos of ‘localism’ and village lifestyle. Although values differed, a clear message from this study is that the population of Australia's pre-eminent ‘sea change’ region strongly support measures to curb urban development and the more destructive consequences of a dynamic property market.     

Competitive Productivism and Australia's Emerging ‘Alternative’ Agri-food Networks: producing for farmers' markets in Victoria and beyond

This paper advances the theoretical argument for moving beyond the conventional/alternative divide in the analysis of emerging ‘alternative’ agri-food networks (AAFNs). In order to understand how ‘place’, ‘nature’ and ‘quality’-based food networks emerge and develop, we argue that careful attention needs to be paid to the way in which specific political-economic environments shape the options available to farmers and consumers. Australia's ‘competitive productivism’ is the outcome of an export-oriented economy and a neoliberal political orientation, and this environment affects the development of AAFNs in various ways. Most notably, a case study of farmers that sell at farmers' markets in the State of Victoria shows that the competitive-productivist policies pursued by Australian governments entice some farmers who participate in AAFNs to develop their ideas into higher output businesses tailored to compete in emerging export markets. Other farmers deliberately choose to keep marketing through alternative channels despite competitive-productivist pressures to expand. These findings demonstrate the centrality to the experience of AAFN participants of negotiating productivist pressures, adding nuances to the story of the complex relations between AAFNs and conventional supply chains.     

Heterogeneity in climate change risk perception amongst dairy farmers: A latent class clustering analysis

Livestock production has been criticized for its effect on greenhouse gas emissions and policy makers are now supporting actions to reduce these impact. Voluntary adoption of these actions will be precluded by the farmer perception of the risks from a changing climate. We employ a latent class clustering approach to understand the heterogeneity within a sample of dairy farmers, based on 8 statements related to climate change risk.The majority of farmers are found to be 'confused moderates' who have no strong opinion towards the possible future impacts of climate change. Two further classes emerged, namely 'deniers' and 'risk perceivers'. We find that higher education levels have an influence on increasing risk perception, as does the intention to pass the farm onto another family member. Membership of agri-environmental schemes does not preclude awareness or acceptance of climate change risk, principally due to the lack of emphasis on greenhouse gas emissions within these schemes. In addition, use of social networks seems to be a significant factor in raising the profile of risk perception within farmer decision-making.We conclude that advisors and those engaging with the farming community must accommodate climate messages in their communication strategies. Furthermore, emphasis on the greenhouse gas benefits from adoption of agri-environmental schemes would seem to be an efficient vehicle for raising the risk profile of climate change and influence future uptake of Government and industry supported actions.     

Self-perceived Roles in Life and Achieving Sustainability on Family Farms in North-eastern Australia

Rural production landscapes in Australia are experiencing a rapid rate of change as a result of, among other factors, climate change, biodiversity loss and changing societal values. Consequently, there is increasing pressure on producers to increase their sustainability. Understanding how producers perceive themselves in the context of this changing landscape is limited but important for the design of policy effective for achieving sustainability. This paper is based on a case study in the north-eastern Australian rangelands that included face-to-face interviews with 28 beef producers and a telephone survey with another 91 producers. The study investigated male and female beef producers' self-perceived roles in life through a lens of different farming discourses and the relationship between these roles and beliefs aligned with sustainability. Results revealed that although producers' self-percieved roles in life were being constructed through a mix of more or less ‘traditional’ discourses, tradition was still a strong influence. Producers who strongly identified with roles linked to ‘less traditional’ discourses were more likely than those who strongly identified with production-orientated roles to agree with beliefs that favoured nature conservation, learning and adapting to change. Increased opportunities for producers to participate in alternative discourses would appear important for fostering a self-identity that is open to learning, difference and change.     

RESTRUCTURING AMERICA'S DAIRY FARMS*

ABSTRACT. As the number of American dairy farms rapidly declines, the character and spatial distribution of the remaining farms is undergoing fundamental change. Concentrating on an examination of both the smallest commercial farms (with 10–49 cows) and the largest dairy operations (with at least 500 cows), this study shows that megadairies are spreading from California into Idaho and America's traditional dairy belt, while Amish farmers are growing in prominence among those milking fewer than fifty cows. Although the greatest proportional declines in dairy farms have been among the smaller operations, average farm size throughout much of the nation remains well below 100 cows. Within a decade Amish farmers may operate one‐fifth of the nation's dairy farms as they expand across the traditional dairy belt, and 500‐cow dairies in the Midwest will outnumber those in California.     

Recent Changes in the Tasmanian Dairy Industry1

Recent theorisation in rural studies provides insights that assist interpretation of change in the Tasmanian dairy industry. Coincident with deregulation are fewer dairy farms but increases in production. Factors contributing to change include growth of foreign ownership of dairy properties and manufacturing plant. In particular, New Zealand corporations and private individuals are bringing in different management practices and the Asian market is becoming increasingly important. Government provision of regular, comparative productivity data specific to each dairy operation is an important spur for productivity improvements. The changes have underlying social causes and consequences and reflect complicated connections which produce alterations in many aspects of rural life.     

The European Union's ‘Everything But Arms’ development initiative and sugar: Preferential access or continued protectionism?

The European Union's ‘Everything But Arms’ (EBA) policy is a development initiative designed to offer least developed countries tariff- and quota-free access to the Union's market for all exports, with the exception of armaments. The Union argues that EBA reflects Europe's desire to see all WTO members benefit from trade liberalisation. In reality, however, market access improvements brought about as a direct result of EBA are limited to a restricted range of temperate agricultural products. In terms of export potential and employment generation, sugar is one of the most important products to be affected by EBA. However, plans to liberalise the protected European sugar market attracted strong resistance from several EU member states and the multinational sugar industry. This resulted in the initial EBA proposal on sugar being significantly weakened, both in terms of the level and security of market access. This paper examines the welfare effects of the EU's changing import regime for sugar and, for the first time, identifies potential winners and losers. The article concludes that the liberalisation of the European sugar market to least developed countries will not affect European farmers or producers and will be at the direct expense of other developing counties. The wider implications of this research are clear; the EU's first priority is to protect European farming interests from market liberalisation, even when protectionism is at the cost of some of the world's poorest countries and their peoples.     

Learning Conservation: the role of conservation covenants in landscape redesign at Project Hindmarsh,Victoria

Biodiversity decline continues apace across the Australian landscape with a pressing need to redesign land use to address this situation. The significance of private land increasingly is recognised for the protection and enhancement of biodiversity as landholders inevitably make decisions that affect environmental quality. Biodiversity conservation is as much a social process as a physical one. Conservation covenants are perpetual agreements under which landholders choose to conserve land voluntarily, primarily for conservation purposes. The role covenants might play in landscape-scale conservation was investigated in north-western Victoria. In-depth interviews with a range of participants were undertaken, with an emphasis on the role covenantors might play as social learning and cultural change agents. Analysis of these interviews offers useful perspectives for understanding socio-cultural dimensions of landscape change and exploring the differing values of production farmers and nature conservation landholders. Consideration is then given to approaches to engaging local production farmers in nature covenants and promoting communication between this group and the largely non-production conservationists who currently form the mainstay of conservation covenants.     

Impacts of changes in the flue-cured tobacco sector on farmers in Ontario, Canada

Impacts of the forces and processes of agricultural restructuring are described in this paper through an analysis of farmers’ ‘lived experience’ in the tobacco sector of Ontario, Canada. The paper argues that the political and economic changes in the 1980s fundamentally altered tobacco farming and the broader rural community. The analysis is based upon a survey of farmers and former farmers, and includes examples of individual case histories. The results show the ways in which farmers’ well-being was affected and provides insights into coping mechanisms.     

Curbing enthusiasm for Brazilian agribusiness: The use of actor-specific assessments to transform sustainable development on the ground

Current enthusiasm for the potential of sustainable agricultural development must be based on a realistic assessment of the dynamics used by specific farming sectors. This study highlights the structural limitations that impede agricultural progress and explains why it is necessary to overcome these impediments in a case study of Brazil, one of the world's main agricultural exporters. In Brazil, the commodity-exporter large-farmers production chain is largely controlled by multinational corporations, with the investment of national capital a mere 12.4% in the technology-intensive sectors of the soy business (composed of seed production, fertilizers, pesticides, machinery, trading companies). The agricultural sector's future depends on increasing the share of national capital into domestic businesses and confronting the current and simplistic strategy of expansion into new agricultural frontiers, which often have high social and environmental costs. The future of family farmers depends on comprehensive development alternatives and challenging the current policies, since current development has been restricted to the 17.9% of family farmers who have access to rural credit, whom are mostly based in the Southern region of Brazil.     

A level playing field? Improving market availability and access for small scale producers in Johannesburg,South Africa

Rapid urbanisation has resulted in an increase in urban poverty in the developing world. In response, some governments in developing nations are increasingly considering urban agriculture to combat poverty. However, understandings of formal intervention to link small scale urban food producers to urban markets are still limited. This paper will present findings from a tentative study of the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market; a farmers' market located in Johannesburg, Gauteng province, South Africa. Results from a survey of urban farmers suggest that a free market economy may not provide equal benefit between large and small scale urban producers. Key findings reveal that beneficial relationships and risk-sharing mechanisms are key for urban producers to access this urban market.     

20世纪90年代以来非洲城市化的特点和动因

一般来说,持续的经济发展和城市化是相伴发生的,但是在非洲,城市化进程并没有带来相应的经济发展,非洲的快速城市化主要是由大量农村人口向城市的盲目流动导致的。文中主要针对非洲快速城市化和经济发展不同步的独特现象,具体分析了导致农村人口向城市迁移的主要原因,并总结出其对中国城市化进程的启示。     

Milking the Plains: movement of large dairy operations into southwestern Kansas

Western Kansas has an historical identification with cattle, with a focus on cattle ranching and more specifically since the 1950s, beef-cattle feedlots. Since the mid-1990s large dairy operations have moved into southwestern Kansas. Today more than twenty large dairies house more than 70,000 milk cows. These operate as confined feeding operations similar to beef-cattle feedlots. Regional advantages for the dairy industry include affordable land with wide-open space, local residents' cattle- and dairy-friendly attitudes, and other factors. Regional promoters have actively recruited dairies, and a dairy-business support system has emerged. The prospects for continued expansion of dairies in southwestern Kansas are unclear; despite the locational advantages and the possibility that the industry may continue to relocate here, as did the cattle-feeding industry several decades ago, further moves into the area may depend on continued resources availability and additional infrastructure development.     

From Pillar to Post? In search of the post-productivist countryside in Australia

According to a growing number of commentators, the agricultural sectors and rural areas of advanced Western nations are experiencing a transition from productivism to post-productivism. In Britain and Western Europe, where this putative transition is most evident, the salient features of the shift include: the gradual removal of farm-level subsidies and related stimulatory policies; the introduction of a range of agri-environmental programs aimed at reducing agricultural commodity surpluses and halting farm-related environmental degradation; and the development of a more socially and culturally heterogeneous rural population as counter-urbanisation has brought a new stratum of residents into rural areas. This paper explores this notion in the Australian context. In analysing a wide range of data and policy documents, the paper argues that while there is some evidence of a productivist regime operating in Australia from 1945 to the early 1980s, and some more recent incipient trends consistent with a transition to a post-productivist countryside, there is much stronger evidence that the Australian farm sector and rural landscapes are being shaped by the complex interactions between the 'productivist' ideals held by farmers and key policy makers alike, and the growing environmental regulation of farming. It is concluded that while the concept of 'post-productivism' is superficially appealing, it has little practical or conceptual application to Australian conditions. Indeed, the paper argues that 'post-productivism' is fundamentally misconceived, largely owing to its inherent binary narrative form and logic.     

Chocolate in China: the cadbury experience

Since 1979, China's Open Door policy has attracted increasing foreign investment. To maintain global competitiveness, the British confectioner, Cadbury, authorised its Australian subsidiary to develop a chocolate plant in China. This paper details the decision‐making processes that eventually led to a new factory on a greenfield site near Beijing. It also illustrates some of the adaptations that Cadbury has had to make in its product and production procedures in order to match its own standards for dairy milk chocolate and yet accommodate guo qing (the special situation in China).     

"They Changed the Rules": Farm Family Responses to Agricultural Deregulation in Southland, New Zealand

Agricultural deregulation in the mid-1980s altered the economic and political climate in which farm families in New Zealand operate. The results of a survey of sheep/beef farmers in Southland shows that the main response to the new conditions and the rural downturn was to 'self exploit'. Impacts varied, depending on farm finances at the start of the downturn. Farming practices and farmers' attitudes changed… but only partly because of deregulation.