Contested rural landscapes: contemporary entanglements of tourism and farming

Abstract

The longstanding synergy between rural tourism and farming is under threat from agricultural intensification. Tourism interests in many parts of the world may find themselves facing the negative consequences of long-term shifts in farming practices, particularly the proliferation of intensive livestock operations or factory farms which accompanies the continuing rise in global meat consumption. This study from Herefordshire and Shropshire, in the UK, explores the complex relations surrounding the rapidly multiplying planning applications for intensive poultry units over the last ten years. Concerns that the poultry industry will harm local tourism trade are often raised, yet are denied by the farmer applicants and ignored by planning officers. There is little previous research about how tourists respond to intensive livestock operations and whether visitor economies could gradually experience harm from the cumulative environmental and other impacts. Drawing on survey, documentary, observational and interview data this research found increasing awareness among rural visitors and tourism businesses about negative experiential and economic impacts. Asymmetric power relations and dominant agricultural rationalities have held sway and suppressed tourism voices within a weak policy and planning context. The research recommends adjustments to planning processes to address the slow violence the development of industrial farming practices brings.

Keywords:

• Rural tourism
• intensive livestock agriculture
• planning conflicts

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the support of Professor Mara Miele and Dr Christopher Bear of the School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University with the research on which this paper is based.

Ethics

The research proposal was approved by Cardiff University’s School of Geography and Planning Ethics Committee and all interviewees read and signed consent forms.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Of the six she recommended two have since become national parks (the South Downs and Norfolk Broads) and two (the Chilterns and Dorset Downs) have been AONBs and recently recommended for upgrade to national park status in the Glover Review (2019). This leaves the Somerset Levels and her very first recommendation, the Vale of Herefordshire (most of the west of the county) and Lower Wye Valley, where little action has happened in the 40 years since.

2 Both the Black Mountains/Golden Valley area and the far north west of Herefordshire were considered at various times for designation as AONBs but this never came to fruition (CPRE Herefordshire, 2018). The legal designation of Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England and Wales was created in 1949 alongside National Parks.

3 There have more recently been several high-profile disputes about new, larger fish farms in sensitive coastal sites in Scotland.

4 During 2020/21 much more investment was directed to Herefordshire tourism during the COVID pandemic.

5 There is a literature around visitor attitudes to the welfare of zoo animals and wildlife attractions.

6 Views about UK fish farms have probably become more negative in recent years with their proliferation and greater awareness of negative impacts on the fish and environments.

7 Other studies of rural tourism have also documented visitors’ multi-sensory and emotional responses to their surroundings and experiences (e.g. Carneiro, Lima, & Silva, 2015; Jepson & Sharpley, 2015).

8 This is perhaps particularly so right now when UK farming is facing a restructured support system, net zero targets and upheaval from the war in Ukraine and the arguments made by the agricultural sector may become more strident.

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by an Economic and Social Research Grant C110866K.