The East Riding of Yorkshire and the Abruzzo Region, Italy

THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL EFFECTIVE POLICY MAKING FOR ESTABLISHING SUSTAINABLE LOCAL FOOD SYSTEMS – THE EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE AND THE ABRUZZO REGION, ITALY being a Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Hull by Kirstie O’Neill March 2012 i Abstract This thesis investigates the ways in which local food has increasingly been seen as an integral part of rural development, and explored the increasing interest in local food from academics, policy-makers, businesses and consumers. The overall question which the research attempts to address is what steps can policy makers take to establish sustainable local food networks, particularly in areas with a traditional background in intensive agriculture specialising in commodity production? These issues were investigated in two case study areas of the East Riding of Yorkshire, UK and the Abruzzo region, Italy using in-depth interviews with policy makers, businesses and focus groups with consumers. The East Riding of Yorkshire is an intensive commodity producing area, the type of area often assumed to be devoid of local food initiatives, while the Abruzzo is largely mountainous and remote, the type of area often assumed to be ideal for local food networks. Both areas are engaged in the EU’s LEADER rural development programme and are working to support local food networks. Theorisations of policy processes and policy making as rational and logical have been supplanted by conceptualisations which aim to adopt a more nuanced approach that accounts for the messy and chaotic worlds described by research participants. This research contributes to the corpus of work which sees policy makers act subjectively, drawing on their own interests and beliefs in driving forward some policy goals whilst ‘ignoring’ other themes. A new ‘model’ of policy making is proposed in response to earlier models which present policy as rational, linear and ordered. This new ‘model’ represents policy processes as complex, non- linear and messy. Policy practices are fluid and elusive, further complicated by the absorption and loss of ideas and initiatives through processes of policy transfer, translation, ‘leaching’, negotiation and implementation. As such, this research has produced an alternative, and perhaps more effective, representation of policy making. Furthermore, the research suggests that notions of the ‘rural’ as being ‘idyllic’ are renegotiated and reproduced contemporaneously. The rural idyll influenced the imaginings of the role played by different rural areas in producing ‘local’ food. Policy makers, businesses and consumers all talked about the ‘rural’ as idyllic. This was not only in comparison to urban areas but contrasts were also identified between different rural areas. As a result, this research indicates that the concept of the rural idyll needs to be further fragmented to take account of the relational nature of rural areas. ii The research concludes that ‘effectiveness’ is an intangible concept, for it suggests an approach to policy-making that can be universally applied to all places, and which will result in ideal policy outcomes. In practice, for many people even talking about policy is complex and contested. More realistically policies need to be customised to suit specific local circumstances. ‘Policy/ies’ are in a constant state of churn, and cannot be easily ‘measured’ or ‘benchmarked’. This complexity of ‘policy’ itself is overlain by the opacity of concepts of ‘local’ food and rural development. Specificity and situatedness are important in understanding the ways that different areas and different people understand and apply these terms. The research thus challenges some of the assumptions frequently made about the ‘success’, or otherwise, of local food systems and rural development. The research was undertaken as part of an ESRC-CASE studentship in partnership with the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. iii Author’s Declaration I declare that the work in this thesis was carried out in accordance with the regulations of the University of Hull and is original except where indicated by specific reference in the text. No part of the thesis has been submitted as part of any other academic award. The thesis has not been presented to any other education institution in the United Kingdom or overseas. Any views expressed in the thesis are those of the author and in no way represent those of the University. iv Acknowledgements My thanks to my supervisors, Dr Lewis Holloway, Professor David Gibbs and Dr David Atkinson for their support, advice and expertise during this research. Also, Helen Wright, Annie Hadfield and David Farnsworth from East Riding of Yorkshire Council for supporting this research, and for their advice and the provision of research contacts and information. I am particularly grateful to all the research participants who gave up their time and thoughts so helpfully in both the East Riding of Yorkshire and the Abruzzo region of Italy (especially Manuela Cozzi and the people of Anversa degli Abruzzi). In addition, I am grateful to the Economic and Social Research Council for providing a research studentship (award number ES/F032781/1) which made this research possible. And, last but not least, to Rob O’Neill for his encouragement. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Author’s Declaration iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vi List of Appendices xii List of Figures xiii List of Tables xiv 1 INTRODUCTION TO ‘EFFECTIVE POLICY MAKING FOR SUSTAINABLE LOCAL FOOD 1 NETWORKS’ 1.1 Introduction: Effective policy making for sustainable local food networks 1 1.2 Research Aims and Objectives 3 1.3 The Case Study Areas 5 The East Riding of Yorkshire, England 5 The Abruzzo Region, Italy 6 1.4 Structure of the Thesis 8 2 THE CHANGING POLICY LANDSCAPE IN THE UK 10 2.1 Introduction 10 2.2 ‘Rural’ as national agricultural asset (1940s – 1980s) 12 2.3 Rural Crises / Shifting Ruralities – Rural in a New Light? (1980s – late 1990s) 14 UK Rural Development Policies 18 Diversified Rural Economies 19 2.4 Rural Policy Creativity – Animal Disease and the Search for Alternatives (late 20 1990s – 2003) Continuing farming crises 23 Organisational impacts of farming crises 23 A new direction for farming – reconnecting producers and 24 consumers European policy changes 26 vi 2.5 The Turbulence of Rural Development (2003 – onwards) 27 Food Security 31 2.6 The Changing Italian Policy Context 34 State level changes 35 State bodies and organisations relating to local food and rural 35 development Agriculture in Italy 37 Italian Rural Development 35 Italy and Food 38 Summary 39 2.7 Changing Political Landscapes – Conclusion 39 3 ACADEMIC THEORISATIONS OF POLICY MAKING, RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND 42 LOCAL FOOD 3.1 Introduction to Literature Review 42 3.2 Policies of Rural Development and Local Food 44 3.2.1 What is policy? Evolution of current thinking 44 3.2.2 Rural Development 51 The Role of Agriculture in Sustainable Rural Development 52 Multifunctionality 56 3.2.3 Conclusion 59 3.3 Localised Food Networks and Rurality 61 3.3.1 Political Economy Research – Food ‘Chains’ and Regimes 62 3.3.2 Food and Rural Geography 66 3.3.3 Alternative Food Networks 67 A New Geography of Food 71 Defensive Localism 73 Disconnections and (re)Connections 75 3.3.4 Understanding local and alternative food networks – theorising 76 difference Conventions Theory 76 vii Embeddedness 78 The consumption ‘turn’ 81 3.3.5 Conclusion 83 3.4 Consuming the Idyll: Representation of the ‘Rural’ as ‘Idyllic’ 86 3.4.1 The Rural Idyll 87 Food and the Rural Idyll 90 Performance of the Rural 92 3.4.2 Rural Idyll(s) and Italy – l’idilli rurale in Italia 94 3.4.3 Conclusion 98 3.5 Effective policy making for sustainable local food networks – conclusion to the 99 literature review 4. METHODS 102 4.1 Introduction 102 4.2 Qualitative research methods 103 4.3 Reliability and validity in qualitative research – appropriate criteria? 106 4.4 Research methods 109 In-depth interviewing 111 Focus group methodologies 112 Postal surveys 113 Textual analysis 113 Summary 114 4.5 The research phase 114 4.5.1 Policy-makers research phase 114 4.5.2 Business research phase 116 Survey research element of business research 117 UK Local Food Business Postal Survey Results 112 Summary 122 In-depth interview element of business research 123 4.5.3 Consumer research 124 4.5.4 Italian research phase 127 viii 4.6 Dealing with the data 131 Transcription 131 Nvivo 132 Coding and analysis 133 4.7 Methods Conclusion 134 5. THE SITUATED MESSINESS OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL FOOD POLICY 136 MAKING 5.1 Introduction 136 5.2 Local food and rural development policy making realities 141 Talking about policy 141 ‘Doing’ policy 144 Making policy 147 Involvement in policy 149 Knowing policy 154 5.3 ‘Animateurs’ and ‘Fiery Spirits’ – the role of passionate people 159 Food and passion 162 ‘Counterproductive’ individuals 167 5.4 Changing policy landscapes 169 Policies of confusion 170 Natural chaos – intrinsic disorganisation? 172 A new geographical vocabulary 176 5.5 Policy transfer, embeddedness and leaching 180 Sharing best practice – policy transfer 181 Examples of policy transfer 183 Policy embeddedness 187 Policy leaching 191 5.6 Complexities of interpretation and implementation 194 Navigating complexity 196 5.7 Geographical and conceptual complexity and specificity 198 Geographical complexity 198 To be rural or not? 199 ix Geographical imaginations of food production 201 Imagining the rural 205 Where’s that? Knowing peripherality 206 Conceptualising rural

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