Working Group 1.8

Reframing and Reconfiguring Agricultural, Rural and Food Policies   

Convenors:
Peter H. Feindt, Cardiff University FeindtP@cardiff.ac.uk
Alan Greer, University of the West of England alan.greer@uwe.ac.uk
Hilkka Vihinen, MTT, Helsinki hilkka.vihinen@mtt.fi

Since the beginning of the 21st century, agricultural, rural and food policies globally have experienced a dramatic shift of context. While the world entered the decade in a period of low prices and abundant supplies, with policy concerns focused on environmental concerns and rural viability, the past three years have witnessed a tidal change in both context and priorities. Triggered by dietary shifts in countries such as China and India, and by increasing demand for energy, rising food and oil prices have squeezed consumers and animal producers alike. Plant production prices have climbed, and agro-environmental programmes have lost competitiveness. 2008 landmark policy documents, including the US Farm Bill, the CAP Health Check, and statements on the food crisis by international bodies like FAO, OECD and G-8, give a clear signal that policies are fundamentally being re-framed. Farmers’ incomes are no longer the primary concern; rather the focus has switched to the contribution that agriculture can make to food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, energy production, food safety and public health.

We invite papers that provide theoretical and/or empirical perspectives on all aspects of reframing and reconfiguring agricultural, rural and food policies:

1. Processes: We welcome contributions that explore processes of re-framing, issue re-/emergence, agenda-setting and paradigm shifts; that analyse the role of advocacy coalitions, traditional producer networks and epistemic communities; or address the role of focussing events and discursive shifts.
2. Actors and networks: here we welcome papers that explore the relevant actor constellations and networks and the blurring boundaries with other policy areas, processes of coalition building, issue spill-over, the role of reconfigured issue networks and policy communities, cooperation between actors from different sectors (private, public, societal) and their power potential.
3. Governance and policies: How have policies and regulations been changing? Is there evidence for more state-directed policies? Are new combinations of market and regulation emerging (e.g. biofuel obligation policies)? Are innovative policy tools emerging, and how are they related to old and new policy targets? Is a rebalancing of subsidies, regulation, incentives and markets under way? Are subsidies more closely bound to objectives? What are the emerging rationales behind policy shifts?

We especially welcome papers that address the big picture: Are high prices an opportunity for a neo-liberal recalibration of food and agriculture policies? Are we witnessing a trajectory towards a new mode of governance? Are current developments the end of the notion of agriculture policy as we knew it, or do we face a re-emergence of agricultural productivism?