‘I think this is where this lovely word “sustainability” comes in’: Fruit and vegetable growers' narratives concerning the regulation of environmental water use for food production

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dc.contributor.authorSutcliffe, Chloe
dc.contributor.authorKnox, Jerry W.
dc.contributor.authorHess, Tim
dc.date.accessioned2023-05-22T13:19:08Z
dc.date.available2023-05-22T13:19:08Z
dc.date.issued2023-05-02
dc.descriptionSpecial Issue: Multiple Dimensions of Sustainability: Towards New Rural Futures in Europe
dc.description.abstractThis article concerns UK commercial fruit and vegetable growers’ narratives regarding the sustainability of water use for food production. In it we explore their perspectives on efforts by regulators to limit agricultural withdrawals of water from the natural environment in line with EU Water Framework Directive objectives, alongside their views on retailer sustainability commitments. Discourse analysis is used to investigate how the growers contested restrictive regulation, constructed their identities, portrayed other supply chain stakeholders, and conveyed their social relations with them. Using Erving Goffman's theory of frontstage and backstage performances, the implications for the growers’ water management decisions and their internalisation of sustainability agendas for water are examined. Whilst the growers gave accounts of purposely misrepresenting their water withdrawal practices and their discourse illustrated significant polarisation between environmental and agricultural interests, their underlying commitment to environmental sustainability was ambivalent, with both anti and pro-environmental attitudes expressed. The growers also frequently gave critiques of superficial sustainability in fresh produce supply chains. We argue that, given contemporary shifting definitions of agricultural identities, settings in which their construction is negotiated can provide windows of opportunity for conventional growers to engage in genuine pro-environmental performances that may deepen their assimilation of environmental goals and commitment to sustainable water use.en_UK
dc.description.sponsorshipBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC): BB/N020499/1. ESRC; NERC; Scottish Governmenten_UK
dc.identifier.citationSutcliffe C, Knox J, Hess T. (2023) ‘I think this is where this lovely word “sustainability” comes in’: Fruit and vegetable growers' narratives concerning the regulation of environmental water use for food production, Sociologia Ruralis, Volume 63, Issue 3, July 2023, pp. 493-513en_UK
dc.identifier.eissn1467-9523
dc.identifier.issn0038-0199
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12437
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/19690
dc.language.isoenen_UK
dc.publisherWileyen_UK
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/*
dc.subjectfruit and vegetable productionen_UK
dc.subjectGoffmanen_UK
dc.subjectirrigationen_UK
dc.subjectsupply chainsen_UK
dc.subjectsustainabilityen_UK
dc.subjectwater framework directiveen_UK
dc.subjectwater regulationen_UK
dc.title‘I think this is where this lovely word “sustainability” comes in’: Fruit and vegetable growers' narratives concerning the regulation of environmental water use for food productionen_UK
dc.typeArticleen_UK

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