ABSTRACT
The forces determining both the nature and the pace of agricultural policy change that have emerged in the early 1990s are both varied and complex. They are, moreover, in certain respects contradictory and the tensions arising from these contradictions are at the heart of a continuing debate on policy which seems set to continue well into the next century. The re-politicisation of agriculture seems, at present, to be irreversible. The main forces at work are as follows:
the restructuring and redefinition of the British countryside as a sphere of leisure consumption rather than primary production.
international and national concerns and imperatives regarding environmental sustainability and biodiversity.
European policy initiatives to reform the CAP.
the UK Conservative government's commitment to free market principles, wealth creation, limits on public spending and a repudiation of corporatism.
the continuing strength of the UK farm and landowning lobby within a policy community that retains at least some degree of closure.
