Creative Preservation in California's Dairy Industry^*

* This research was supported by U.S. Department of Agriculture National Research Initiative Grant #9801611. Special thanks to our coinvestigators Louise Nelson Dyble, Louise Fortmann, Matt Gerhart, Lynn Huntsinger, Nancy Peluso, and Steven Wolf for valuable ideas and discussion; to Laura Watt for crucial insights into the history and politics of Point Reyes National Seashore; to three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments; to our cartographer, Roseli Ilano; and to Claudia Leal for assistance with the final maps.

Abstract

Farmers in Marin and Sonoma Counties, located north of San Francisco, are experimenting with numerous alternatives to California's widely known industrial dairy style. Many analysts suggest that consumer politics, food scares, and globalization explain such shifts to organic and other types of “quality” food production. While acknowledging the importance of these factors, we argue that the alternatives in this region are best understood as an outcome of broad‐based land‐conservation efforts developed through historical and ongoing struggles over urban growth, rising concerns about environmental values, and deep regional interests in dairy preservation. Over time, preservation of this agricultural landscape has contributed to the emergence of a quality food industry historically rooted in the region's politics of place.

• California
• dairy farming
• food quality
• land preservation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Greig Tor Guthey

Mr. Guthey is a doctoral candidate in geography at the University of California, Berkeley, California 94720‐4740,

Lauren Gwin

Ms. Gwin is a doctoral candidate in environmental science, policy, and management and where Dr.

Sally Fairfax

Fairfax is the Henry J. Vaux Distinguished Professor of Forest Policy.