Abstract
Some researchers detected a new-found subsidiarity in rural policy after England’s 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic, with regional and sub-regional institutions working together to implement an economic recovery strategy. While such research began to link debates on the new regionalism and the rescaling of agro-food governance, its conception of the latter focused too narrowly on the ‘turn to quality’, thereby overlooking other important aspects of food relocalisation. Based on interviews conducted in England’s South West and West Midlands regions, this paper examines whether the attitudes of key actors from regional and sub-regional governance institutions provided a sound basis for partnership working on the food relocalisation policies recommended in the Government’s Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food. It finds different attitudes on the part of regional and sub-regional actors, with the former favouring regional foods and the latter local foods. Despite scepticism from both groups about the ability of the England Rural Development Programme (2000e2006) to promote food relocalisation, grants were awarded to both regional and local food entrepreneurs, suggesting that the programme
contributed more to food relocalisation than previously thought.
contributed more to food relocalisation than previously thought.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 83-93 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Political Geography |
Volume | 31 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 20 Nov 2011 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2012 |
Keywords
- New regionalism
- Rescaling
- Agro-food governance
- Food relocalisation
- South West and West Midlands regions
- England Rural Development Programme