Introduction

There can be little doubt that the last 10 years have seen a profound crisis in both the rural areas and the agricultural industry. This crisis has been both material and ideological. The material crisis or, rather, crises are clear enough. Worries about environmental damage and factory farming, followed by a series of food scandals culminating in the horrible and sorry tale of BSE, were followed, in their turn, by the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the spring of 2001. This took place against a background of falling farm profits from the mid-1990s, and a continued decline in rural services. The ideological crises are no less clear and closely related to the material ones. Centrally, public opinion towards the countryside and especially agriculture has changed significantly. Worries about the environment and many modern farm practices, fears about the quality of food, and a growing sense that a subsidised agriculture is simply protecting a rich and privileged group have all contributed to a much harsher public view of agriculture than in the past.