Landcare in the deregulated rural economy of New Zealand
Helen Ritchie
School of Agriculture and Rural Development, University of Western Sydney-Hawkesbury, NSW
PP: 067 - 075
Abstract
Since 1984 a series of measures have been instituted by New Zealand governments to remove subsidies to the rural sector. Parallel reforms of financial and labour markets, and cut-backs in state sector spending, have been part of the neo-liberal economic agenda in New Zealand, emphasising individual responsibility and minimal government interference. Questions arise as to how sound environmental management may be achieved under such policy regimes. Planning and regulation have the capacity to adequately address a limited number of environmental issues, specifically, those which are amenable to monitoring and enforcement. Diffuse and insidious impacts such as erosion and non-point source discharges into waterways are problematic. Nutrient discharges are likely to increase in many parts of New Zealand as a result of two current trends - the intensification of farming, and the conversion from meat and wool to dairy production.
Interest has grown in participatory models such as Landcare[1] to address the failure of market and regulatory mechanisms in land and water management. The environmental imperative in New Zealand is not as obvious as it is in those parts of Australia which are severely affected by salinity. Consequently, New Zealand producers may perceive that little private economic benefit is likely to accrue to them from Landcare activities, at least in the short term. Nor is there an incentive in New Zealand for the formation of Landcare groups in the form of central government funding, either for Landcare activities or for extension/advisory services. Nevertheless, groups are emerging in several regions of New Zealand under various titles including Landcare, Streamcare, Beachcare and Self-help Possum Control.
This paper reports on a study of attitudes towards these Care groups in rural Waikato, and discusses the results with reference to relevant Australian literature on Landcare. The paper explores two themes. The first is the hegemony of neo-liberal philosophy within the discourse surrounding participatory environmental management in the deregulated New Zealand economy. The discussion will identify the extent to which neo-liberal principles were articulated by both regional government staff and by rural producers in the study. Secondly, the paper explores the empirical evidence of farmer activity regarding Landcare, and its seeming contradiction to rational self-interest in the economic sense. This sheds light on 'farmer rationality' (Vanclay 1992) amongst Waikato farmers. The discussion contrasts this concept (which necessarily views farmer decision-making as embedded in a complex fabric of social and cultural factors), with that of the shallow definitions of 'economic rationalism'. The paper will present evidence that the latter, uni-dimensional concept of profit- maximising rationality still persists, and indeed dominates, economic discourse in New Zealand, in spite of a poor match with empirical evidence of farmer activity.
[1] Note that the term Landcare is used in this article in the sense of voluntary rural groups formed to address land and water degradation issues. It should not be confused with Landcare Research (Manaaki Whenua), a Crown Research Institute in New Zealand.
Keywords
Landcare, New Zealand, economy
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