Deregulation or re-regulation : grower constructions of risks that arise from regulatory change in the New Zealand pipfruit industry : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Development Studies, School of Global Studies at Massey University
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Date
2001
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Massey University
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Abstract
This thesis seeks to combine two political economy of food perspectives stemming from food regimes analysis and concepts of food networks for the purpose of identifying and examining grower constructions of risks arising from regulatory change in the New Zealand pipfruit industry. While the food regimes framework has received some criticism from the post-structuralist camp, it is difficult to conceive how a clear understanding of agri-food networks in New Zealand, particularly post-1984, could be proposed without focusing on the momentous political and economic events associated with the structural adjustment experiment which fundamentally changed the productive, investment, economic and socio-political landscapes. Food regimes analysis, with its focus on investment axes and comparative trends in global food restructuring, represents a powerful theoretical tool in situating historical and current industry challenges and structural conditions. The research uses focus groups as the primary participatory research vehicle and through this has identified grower defined, risk matrices. These matrices have been built in four separate pipfruit growing regions. Each prioritises risk events in terms of likelihood of occurrence and seriousness of consequence, in the orchard business enterprise context. Regionally specific risk construction and definition can assist in the prediction, and analysis, of the effects of deregulation (re-regulation), and influence future development trajectories for the New Zealand pipfruit industry and the regional communities where the industry is a major economic driver. Key Words: food regimes; food networks; qualitative method; focus group; risk; construction.
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New Zealand, Trade regulation, Apple industry, Pear industry, Fruit trade