Conceptualizing agriculture: a critique of post-productivism as the new orthodoxy

Abstract

It has become fashionable to conceptualize recent shifts in agrarian priorities as a ‘postproductivist’ transition from a previously ‘productivist’ agriculture. This notion became more popular throughout the 1990s as a way to capture in one convenient package the complex changes experienced by both the agricultural sector specifically and within rural areas more generally. However, the widespread and uncritical use of such an all-encompassing term is rather surprising given debates elsewhere in human geography on the rejection of dualistic thinking. Yet, in agricultural and rural studies, the active creation and reinforcement of a productivist/post-productivist dualism has emerged as a means of explaining the uneven development of rural areas. This paper develops a critique of post-productivism to demonstrate its invalidity, presenting empirical evidence to refute five supposed characteristics relating to quality food, pluriactivity, sustainability, production dispersion and regulation. It is argued that future progress in agricultural research will only be made if post-productivism is abandoned. Effort should be refocused upon understanding deeper processes underpinning agricultural change using existing theoretical perspectives developed in human geography but which lack application in the agricultural context. Ecological modernization is provided as a brief exemplar of how such progress may be achieved.

Food security framings within the UK and the integration of local food systems

“…The suggestion is that the UK should increase its production of food, especially fruit and vegetables, but that crucially the production should be carried out sustainably. In other words, this suggests an era of what has been termed neo-productivism (Almås et al, 2009;Evans et al, 2002), in which producing more food in the UK is again a priority. Underpinning this approach is the need to invest in agricultural research and the development of new techniques, including new genomic techniques (Beddington, 2010;Foresight, 2011).…”

Adjustment strategies revisited: Agricultural change in the Welsh Marches

“…First, there may be a temptation to assume that the notion is generally understood and need not be defined in itself (see Johnsen, 2004). Second, the concept becomes rather abstract when removed from its theoretical locus of origin in modified agrarian political economy, or weakened if simply used as a metaphor for a contested post-productive transition (Evans et al, 2002;Potter and Tilzey, 2005). Third, there are the unresolved issues remaining from its original application.…”

“…Clearly, farmers were employing 'productivist' strategies of adjustment that fell comfortably within the boundaries of their existing knowledge, ones that are difficult to represent as 'post-productivist' adjustment strategies (for a full exposition, see Evans et al, 2002).…”

A Lleyn Sweep for Local Sheep? Breed Societies and the Geographies of Welsh Livestock

“…Although these "excitements" have pushed the analysis of agriculture beyond political economy approaches, it is crucial to remember that farming remains an economic activity, albeit one that has undergone complex transformations. New agrarian policy strands place emphasis on developing the "multifunctionality" of agriculture (Wilson, 2001) within a differentiated social economy of the countryside (Marsden and Murdoch, 2003), emphasising food quality, environmental stewardship, farm business diversification and rural development (Ilbery and Bowler, 1998;Wilson, 2001;Evans et al, 2002 and. These complex transformations both reflect and affect how animals are positioned by and in farming networks.…”