Abstract
This research explores how Aotearoa New Zealand’s (AoNZ’s) agri-food system is positioned for transformation, focusing on the roles of diverse stakeholders in shaping its future. It investigates how the values, narratives, and relationships of industrial farmers, alternative food network (AFN) actors, and local and regional council members influence, resist, or reimagine the agri-food system’s potential future. The research is grounded in the understanding that agri-food systems are deeply relational, and embedded within complex social, cultural, economic, and ecological contexts. By incorporating a more-than-human ethic of care, this research shifts beyond human-centered perspectives to consider the roles of non-human actors in shaping the agri-food system.
The research is framed by two central questions: (1) How do the values, narratives, practices, and relationships of industrial farmers, AFN actors, and local and regional council members shape efforts to transform agri-food systems in AoNZ? (2) What components of a (more-than-human) ethic of care are present, or emerging, within AoNZ’s agri-food system? These questions aim to explore current agri-food practices and belief systems as well as how relationships might guide transformative actions rooted in relational care and responsibility.
The research employs qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews with industrial farmers, AFN stakeholders, and local and regional council members, with fieldwork primarily conducted in Southland and Otago, alongside some national-level interviews. The theoretical framework is informed by a relational ontology and more-than-human ethic of care, which together enable a deeper exploration of relational care and responsibility in agri-food systems. Relational care is conceptualized as a dynamic, context-specific practice, co-produced through interactions with ecological, social, cultural, and economic conditions.
Empirically, this study reveals that care practices are expressed across a spectrum rather than in a binary of industrial/alternative agri-food systems. While AFN stakeholders typically articulate care through ecological and community oriented language, industrial farmers often demonstrate deep, though less explicitly stated, attachments to land, animals, and future generations. However, these forms of care are constrained by pressures of an industrial agri-food system, such as global market demands, regulatory pressures, and a cultural focus on scale and efficiency. This research reveals subtle practices of care within industrial farming that complicate the prevailing view of industrial agriculture as inherently harmful or oppositional to environmental and ethical sustainability, suggesting alternative pathways toward more sustainable, or nature-positive futures.
Findings also highlight the shared values across stakeholder groups, including land stewardship, intergenerational responsibility, and place-based decision-making. Despite these common values, structural constraints tend to hinder the translation of these values into practice. The concept of place, although not a primary focus in this research, emerges as both a physical and emotional connection, where care is enacted, negotiated, and sometimes challenged. Place-based relationships highlight the tension between top-down policies and local practices, emphasizing the need for policy reform to support systemic transformation.
This research contributes to agri-food geographies by extending the frameworks of care and relational ethics into industrial agriculture. While not centrally focused on place, it offers additional insight into how relational care is shaped by, and in turn shapes, specific agri-food contexts. By starting to reframe industrial farmers as potential collaborators in sustainability transitions, this research suggests new possibilities for cross-sector collaboration, grounded in a shared commitment to care, responsibility, and ecological health.