Making a ‘Mess’ in the Countryside:Organic Farming and the Threats to Sense of Place

Abstract

During the 1990s, within the context of “corporate greening,” New Zealand experienced exponential growth in organic farming and the institutionalising of a former fringe farming subculture. Organic farming practices, however, often result in landscapes that differ from those produced by the application of long-standing conventional land management systems. The resulting aesthetic poses a threat to the landscape tastes and senses of place of conservative farming communities. In this article we portray how social beliefs and practices find symbolic expression in the landscape, how they influence sense of place, and how their associated values are challenged by changes in traditional dominant landscapes.