Exploring Farmers' Cultural Resistance to Voluntary Agri-environmental Schemes

Studies throughout Europe have suggested that voluntary agri‐environmental programmes often engender very little change in attitudes towards productivist agriculture among conventional farming communities. This study examines why this may be so, using case studies from Hessen, Germany and Aberdeensh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociologia ruralis 2008-01, Vol.48 (1), p.16-37
Main Authors: Burton, Rob. J.F., Kuczera, Carmen, Schwarz, Gerald
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural production
Agriculture
Bourdier, Pierre (1930-2002)
Bourdieu, Pierre
Capital
Case studies
Cultural capital
Entrepreneurship
Environmental protection
Environmentalism
Farmers
Farming
Germany
Nature conservation
Resistance
Rural and urban sociology
Rural sociology
Scotland
Sociocultural Factors
Sociology
Symbolism
United Kingdom
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Summary:Studies throughout Europe have suggested that voluntary agri‐environmental programmes often engender very little change in attitudes towards productivist agriculture among conventional farming communities. This study examines why this may be so, using case studies from Hessen, Germany and Aberdeenshire, Scotland. By constructing a conceptual framework based on Bourdieu's notions of capital we explore how farming activities are able to generate symbolic capital, and compare this with the symbolic value of conservation work. We find that voluntary agri‐environmental work returns little symbolic capital to farmers as, by prescribing management practices and designating specific areas for agri‐environmental work, such schemes fail to allow farmers to develop or demonstrate skilled role performance – thus inhibiting the development of embodied cultural capital. We conclude by suggesting that entrepreneurial production‐target based agri‐environmental schemes may be ultimately more effective in changing long‐term behaviour.
ISSN:0038-0199
1467-9523
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9523.2008.00452.x