Recent studies of organic agriculture are characterized by an assumption that it is relatively easy for agribusiness to transform the meaning of organic food and marginalize the position of small‐scale organic producers. In this paper, it is argued that such studies pay insufficient attention to the contradictions and limitations of capitalist agriculture as established in recent and classical formulations of the agrarian question. Attempts to liberate international trade and globalize the food system, which are particularly evident in New Zealand, result in disruption of food security and quality, so the agrarian question remains central in contemporary agri‐food research. Tempered by biological conditions and associated with alternative social groups, organic production is strongly influenced by those forces which comprise the agrarian question, so attempts by agribusiness to manipulate the organic industry are fraught with contradiction. Research findings from four regional case studies in New Zealand show that small‐scale organic producers are persistent, despite the increasing involvement of agribusiness in organic agriculture.

Working with Indigenous peoples has stretched geographers’ presumptions about appropriate modes of engagement and representation. Early feminist geography prompted methodological experimentation that exercised significant and lasting influence on the discipline. The politics of working with Indigenous peoples yields similarly significant insights about research leadership and methodological choices that are now recognized more widely. We juxtapose the prevailing ethnographic and collaborative approaches to researching Indigenous peoples against Indigenes’ preference for leading research into their lives. Ethical concerns about recent geographical research suggest a need to reconceptualize participation, action and representation.

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