Journal article
Farmers and perverse outcomes: The quest for food and energy security, emissions reduction and climate adaptation
Global Environmental Change, Vol.22(2), pp.463-471
2012
Abstract
Victorian farmers have experienced significant impact from climate change associated with drought and more recently flooding. These factors form a convergence with a complex of other factors to change production systems physically; and farmers' decision making is variously described as adaptive or maladaptive to these drivers of change. Recently updated State Government policies on farming, climate and water have immediate and long term implications for food production systems but are not readily interpreted at a local scale. Further, peak oil and energy security are only partially integrated into either climate or water policy discourse. In effect, despite some far-sighted words about the meaning of climate change, uncertainty is largely met with a 'business as usual' mantra. Farmer narratives are used to demonstrate their systemic and increasing vulnerability and likelihood of perverse outcomes. The Future Farming strategy and Our Water Our Future are briefly analyzed, as are potential implications of the rhetoric of newly elected conservative government. Using ideas from Bourdieu and Bhabha we suggest that the reliance on farmers being able to innovate and take up opportunities associated with the uncertainty of large scale changes in climate and energy availability are misguided. It is more likely that current policy directions entrench the values of the global market and its elite, leaving farmers locked-in to historical structural responses that will not be successful in the long-term and will diminish their ability to imagine radical and diverse ways of avoiding the maladaptive structures currently surrounding their production systems. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
Details
- Title
- Farmers and perverse outcomes: The quest for food and energy security, emissions reduction and climate adaptation
- Authors
- R Beilin (Author) - University of MelbourneTamara S Sysak (Author) - University of MelbourneS Hill (Author) - University of Melbourne
- Publication details
- Global Environmental Change, Vol.22(2), pp.463-471
- Publisher
- Pergamon
- Date published
- 2012
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.12.003
- ISSN
- 0959-3780
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Thompson Institute; School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99449228202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
655 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Web Of Science research areas
- Environmental Sciences
- Environmental Studies
- Geography
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites