Wild Flowers in the Wrong Field are Weeds! Examining Farmers' Constructions of Conservation

Abstract

As conservation and looking after the environment are increasingly seen as important elements of farmers' activities, understanding what these concepts mean to farmers themselves is valuable. This paper is based on a qualitative study of farmers in southern Scotland. In-depth interviews were used to gain access to farmers' perceptions of the environment and conservation issues. As farmers are inevitably working closely with and using nature, their views of nature were found to be connected to this exploitative relationship with nature. Farmers' constructions of conservation are also related to this, they viewed conservation in a very instrumental way, often believing that conservation should have direct economic benefits for them, and following that, for the rest of society. It was found that conservationists influenced what farmers understand by conservation, both directly and also as they represent a competing group in the countryside. Furthermore, conservationists were seen as having the power to designate Sites of Special Scientific Interest on the farmers' land, a power which clearly affected their relationship. The meanings given by farmers to conservation and associated concepts are an essential part of how they negotiate the growing significance of conservation issues in the farming world.

Envisioning agricultural sustainability from field to plate: Comparing producer and consumer attitudes and practices toward ‘environmentally friendly’ food and farming in Washington State, USA

“…) Farmers often prefer conservation measures that do not interfere with farm productivity and that correspond to their perceptions of a 'good farm' landscape (Carr and Tait, 1991. ) This work reveals that farmers' values and knowledge of the natural world and their responses to scientific conservation advice can be at variance with the understanding of experts (Carr and Tait, 1991;McEachern, 1992;Harrison et al, 1998;McHenry, 1998). In addition, the ''information environment,'' as well as local social networks, have been shown to be key factors in a number of recent studies that take an actor network approach to understanding farmer 'knowledge-cultures' (Lowe et al, 1997;Tsouvalis et al, 2000;Coughenour, 2003).…”

“…Contemporary studies highlight that farmers will often draw on their own time-dependent, geographically situated local knowledge to make production and management decisions (Holloway, 1999;McHenry, 1998). Wright's (2005) study of tobacco growers in Kentucky, USA, exposes the importance of social and cultural meanings embedded in production practices.…”

Attitudes of food entrepreneurs towards two grant schemes under the first England Rural Development Programme, 2000–2006

“…Interviews were qualitative and semi-structured: a recognised and accepted data gathering technique (e.g. McHenry, 1998;Fish et al, 2003). They sought information on three main topics: perceptions of the PMG and RES; experiences of the grant application process; and attitudes to, and dealings with, 'street-level' bureaucrats.…”

Farmer perceptions of bird conservation and farming management at a catchment level

“…Farmland birds also act as a biological crop control mechanism and can be perceived as a cultural component of the landscape (Jacobson et al, 2003), though by some as a pest and constraint on yield and land use potential (Coleman and Spurr, 2001). Accordingly, farmland birds represent the cultural and landscape values that are important to farmers within a community, which play a role in the motivations for maintaining and improving their habitats contained in the landscape (McHenry, 1998;Fish et al, 2003).…”