What Do We Mean by ‘Industrial Agriculture’? The Example of the Irish Dairy Sector

Abstract

The term ‘industrial’ agriculture is often used in academia, the media, and by campaigning groups to denote a type of agriculture that is undesirable. The term is often not defined, but has connotations of environmental damage, poor animal welfare and working conditions, corporate control and homogenous, soulless food. This paper explores the ambiguity of the term ‘industrial’ agriculture and asks why and in what context the term has use as an analytic concept, through the examples of pasture-based dairy sector in Ireland. The Irish dairy sector markets itself as the antithesis of industrial agriculture: small, family farms producing seasonal milk from grass, which is bought and sold by farmer cooperatives. This system is often contrasted with indoor dairy farming where cows do not graze which is framed by some campaigners and academics as polluting, cruel to animals, and disenfranchising for farmer. The situation is more complicated on closer analysis as the Irish dairy industry has undergone rapid and environmentally damaging expansion in recent years, within a pasture-based, family farm paradigm, which has threatened its public licence. The paper argues that when using the term ‘industrial agriculture’ and similar terms as an analytic concept, it is useful to focus on the values and governance regime underpinning a particular farm system as well as the physical infrastructure of the farming system, i.e., what the farm looks like. This builds on Paul Thompson’s work analyzing the philosophy and values underpinning developments within agriculture.