scholarly journals ‘I wouldn’t want to be a cow’: An ethnographic exploration of more-than-human relational praxis on a New Zealand dairy farm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Audrey Goulding
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Dairy Farm ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Agricultural Practice ◽  
Interspecies Interactions ◽  
Informal Knowledge ◽  
Farming Practice ◽  
Human Exceptionalism ◽  
Industrial Farming ◽  
Nonhuman Agency

<p>This thesis aims to understand how industrial farmers perceive and relate to the nonhuman world. A small-scale ethnographic focus of a 250-cow dairy farm in New Zealand’s Rangitikei district is presented as a proxy for approaching the underexamined field of farming ontologies. A common narrative exists that western ontology is characterised by human exceptionalism, a belief in humanity as singularly subjective beings amid a mute and objective world. Contrary to this discourse, this thesis finds that farmer relations to the nonhuman world are multiple, complex and contingent. This thesis employs Annemarie Mol’s (2002) understanding of ontology as established through practice, and thereby multiple, in conjunction with a material analysis of the farm as a composite ecology of human and nonhuman agents. I argue that industrial agricultural practice is informed both by transcendent, objectivist logics, and by co-constituted, informal knowledge formed through co-habitation of multispecies lifeworlds. The unruly agency of lively materials, and the affective and intersubjective qualities of interspecies interactions, are shown to figure conditionally in farming practice. These components are managed within the bounds of industrial agriculture’s outwardly utilitarian and anthropocentric systems through responsive practices of care and attentiveness, revealing that an attribution of nonhuman agency and subjectivity is essential to industrial farming practice.</p>

scholarly journals ‘I wouldn’t want to be a cow’: An ethnographic exploration of more-than-human relational praxis on a New Zealand dairy farm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Audrey Goulding
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Dairy Farm ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Agricultural Practice ◽  
Interspecies Interactions ◽  
Informal Knowledge ◽  
Farming Practice ◽  
Human Exceptionalism ◽  
Industrial Farming ◽  
Nonhuman Agency

<p>This thesis aims to understand how industrial farmers perceive and relate to the nonhuman world. A small-scale ethnographic focus of a 250-cow dairy farm in New Zealand’s Rangitikei district is presented as a proxy for approaching the underexamined field of farming ontologies. A common narrative exists that western ontology is characterised by human exceptionalism, a belief in humanity as singularly subjective beings amid a mute and objective world. Contrary to this discourse, this thesis finds that farmer relations to the nonhuman world are multiple, complex and contingent. This thesis employs Annemarie Mol’s (2002) understanding of ontology as established through practice, and thereby multiple, in conjunction with a material analysis of the farm as a composite ecology of human and nonhuman agents. I argue that industrial agricultural practice is informed both by transcendent, objectivist logics, and by co-constituted, informal knowledge formed through co-habitation of multispecies lifeworlds. The unruly agency of lively materials, and the affective and intersubjective qualities of interspecies interactions, are shown to figure conditionally in farming practice. These components are managed within the bounds of industrial agriculture’s outwardly utilitarian and anthropocentric systems through responsive practices of care and attentiveness, revealing that an attribution of nonhuman agency and subjectivity is essential to industrial farming practice.</p>

scholarly journals Regenerative Architecture: An Application of Regionalist Sustainability in New Zealand Dairy Farming Practice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jacob Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Dairy Farm ◽  
Dairy Farming ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Farming Practice ◽  
Physical Form ◽  
Farm Sustainability

<p>Over the past decade the New Zealand dairy industry has undergone unparalleled expansion in the agricultural sector. The influence of globalised market competition, beginning in 1985, has resulted in significant changes to the operation and scale of production of New Zealand farm conditions. With this, there have been a series of changes to the physical form of farming in New Zealand - most notably in a shift towards larger and more intensive practice. The term 'factory farming' has taken a unique and contextual evolution within these conditions, leading to questions of sustainability. Sustainability in this setting is often defined by production growth and trade conditions before more humanistic issues of social and ecological welfare.   Similar to the competing perspectives of New Zealand dairy farm sustainability, the discipline of architecture faces a wide and complex field of approaches to sustainable practice. The views of researcher, Steven Moore, are focused on in this study with regard to the contested definitions of architectural sustainability. He advocates a regionalist approach in the belief that sustainability is better defined by local circumstance than a universal best approach. Moore's theory of non-modem regionalism and regenerative architecture are utilised in this thesis as a means of questioning the issues faced in New Zealand dairy farm sustainability. This study applies Moore's concept of a regenerative architecture in New Zealand dairy farming to cultivate improved social and ecological conditions.  The architectural consequence of this discussion is in the form of a future mixed-use prototype for Canterbury dairy farming practice. This design explores the relationship between architecture, place and regionalist concepts of sustainability to improve the social and ecological attributes of this cultural setting. By taking a multidisciplinary approach to toward environmentally and socially sustainable dairy farming practices the design produces an integrated system that identifies with Moore's regenerative strategy. The study concludes that further architectural investigations into this setting could potentially influence and improve the future health and sustainability of the industry.</p>

scholarly journals Regenerative Architecture: An Application of Regionalist Sustainability in New Zealand Dairy Farming Practice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jacob Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Dairy Farm ◽  
Dairy Farming ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Farming Practice ◽  
Physical Form ◽  
Farm Sustainability

<p>Over the past decade the New Zealand dairy industry has undergone unparalleled expansion in the agricultural sector. The influence of globalised market competition, beginning in 1985, has resulted in significant changes to the operation and scale of production of New Zealand farm conditions. With this, there have been a series of changes to the physical form of farming in New Zealand - most notably in a shift towards larger and more intensive practice. The term 'factory farming' has taken a unique and contextual evolution within these conditions, leading to questions of sustainability. Sustainability in this setting is often defined by production growth and trade conditions before more humanistic issues of social and ecological welfare.   Similar to the competing perspectives of New Zealand dairy farm sustainability, the discipline of architecture faces a wide and complex field of approaches to sustainable practice. The views of researcher, Steven Moore, are focused on in this study with regard to the contested definitions of architectural sustainability. He advocates a regionalist approach in the belief that sustainability is better defined by local circumstance than a universal best approach. Moore's theory of non-modem regionalism and regenerative architecture are utilised in this thesis as a means of questioning the issues faced in New Zealand dairy farm sustainability. This study applies Moore's concept of a regenerative architecture in New Zealand dairy farming to cultivate improved social and ecological conditions.  The architectural consequence of this discussion is in the form of a future mixed-use prototype for Canterbury dairy farming practice. This design explores the relationship between architecture, place and regionalist concepts of sustainability to improve the social and ecological attributes of this cultural setting. By taking a multidisciplinary approach to toward environmentally and socially sustainable dairy farming practices the design produces an integrated system that identifies with Moore's regenerative strategy. The study concludes that further architectural investigations into this setting could potentially influence and improve the future health and sustainability of the industry.</p>

scholarly journals Place-Making by Cows in an Intensive Dairy Farm: A Sociolinguistic Approach to Nonhuman Animal Agency

2021 ◽  
pp. 177-201
Author(s):  
Leonie Cornips ◽  
Louis van den Hengel
Keyword(s):  
Dairy Cows ◽  
Dairy Farm ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Nonhuman Animal ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Place Making ◽  
Human Exceptionalism ◽  
Sentient Beings ◽  
Nonhuman Agency ◽  
Animal Agency

AbstractBased on recent ethnographic fieldwork at an intensive dairy farm, this chapter examines the usefulness of posthuman critical theory for developing a new sociolinguistic approach to nonhuman animal agency. We explore how dairy cows, as encaged sentient beings whose mobility is profoundly restricted by bars and fences, negotiate their environment as a material-semiotic resource in linguistic acts of place-making. Drawing on the fields of critical posthumanism, new materialism and sociolinguistics, we explain how dairy cows imbue their physical space with meaning through materiality, the body and language. By developing a non-anthropocentric approach to language as a practice of more-than-human sociality, we argue for establishing egalitarian research perspectives beyond the assumptions of human exceptionalism and species hierarchy. The chapter thus aims to contribute towards a new understanding of nonhuman agency and interspecies relationships in the Anthropocene.

Automatic Milking Systems: an option to address the labour shortage on New Zealand dairy farms?

2002 ◽  
pp. 39-43
Author(s):  
J.G. Jago ◽  
M.W. Woolford
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Dairy Industry ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Dairy Farms ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Labour Shortage ◽  
Commercial Farms ◽  
Grazing Systems ◽  
Automatic Milking Systems

There is a growing shortage of labour within the dairy industry. To address this the industry needs to attract more people and/or reduce the labour requirements on dairy farms. Current milk harvesting techniques contribute to both the labour requirements and the current labour shortage within the industry as the process is labour-intensive and necessitates long and unsociable working hours. Automated milking systems (AMS) have been in operation, albeit on a small scale, on commercial farms in Europe for a decade and may have the potential to address labour issues within the New Zealand dairy industry. A research programme has been established (The Greenfield Project) which aims to determine the feasibility of automated milking under New Zealand dairying conditions. A Fullwoods MERLIN AMS has been installed on a protoype farmlet and is successfully milking a small herd of 41 cows. Progress from the prototype Greenfields system offers considerable potential for implementing AMS in extensive grazing systems. Keywords: automated milking systems, dairy cattle, grazing, labour

scholarly journals Whole-genome sequencing from the New Zealand Saccharomyces cerevisiae population reveals the genomic impacts of novel microbial range expansion

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Higgins ◽  
Cooper A Grace ◽  
Soon A Lee ◽  
Matthew R Goddard
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Whole Genome Sequencing ◽  
Genome Sequencing ◽  
Range Expansion ◽  
Copy Number ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Copy Number Changes ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Saccharomyces cerevisiae is extensively utilized for commercial fermentation, and is also an important biological model; however, its ecology has only recently begun to be understood. Through the use of whole-genome sequencing, the species has been characterized into a number of distinct subpopulations, defined by geographical ranges and industrial uses. Here, the whole-genome sequences of 104 New Zealand (NZ) S. cerevisiae strains, including 52 novel genomes, are analyzed alongside 450 published sequences derived from various global locations. The impact of S. cerevisiae novel range expansion into NZ was investigated and these analyses reveal the positioning of NZ strains as a subgroup to the predominantly European/wine clade. A number of genomic differences with the European group correlate with range expansion into NZ, including 18 highly enriched single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) and novel Ty1/2 insertions. While it is not possible to categorically determine if any genetic differences are due to stochastic process or the operations of natural selection, we suggest that the observation of NZ-specific copy number increases of four sugar transporter genes in the HXT family may reasonably represent an adaptation in the NZ S. cerevisiae subpopulation, and this correlates with the observations of copy number changes during adaptation in small-scale experimental evolution studies.

Control of chironomid midge larvae in wastewater stabilisation ponds: comparison of five compounds

2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (12) ◽  
pp. 191-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Craggs ◽  
L. Golding ◽  
S. Clearwater ◽  
L. Susarla ◽  
W. Donovan
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Bacillus Thuringiensis ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Adult Emergence ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Slight Reduction ◽  
Organic Loading ◽  
Valuable Component ◽  
Pre Treatment

Chironomid midge larvae are a valuable component of wastewater stabilisation pond (WSP) ecology. However, in high numbers, adult midge swarms can be a nuisance to near-by urban areas. Improving WSP treatment by incorporating aerobic or maturation ponds or by the addition of pre-treatment to reduce organic loading also increases the availability of aerobic sediment (midge larva habitat) in the pond system and the potential for midge nuisance problems. The efficacy of Maldison, an organophosphate traditionally used to control midge larvae in New Zealand WSPs, was compared to Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti), Methoprene, Pyriproxyfen and Diflubenzuron which are all more specific to insects and have fewer adverse environmental effects. Initial laboratory trials established the concentration of each compound required to achieve 95% control of the midge population. During 21-day small-scale trials within the WSP, Bti, Diflubenzuron and Maldison reduced live larvae numbers substantially (80–89%) compared to controls and adult midge emergence was markedly reduced by all compounds (72–96%). Large-scale trials with Bti (Vectobac® WG) powder (1000 μg/L) only caused a slight reduction in midge larvae numbers compared to controls and had little effect on adult emergence, however, Methoprene (Prolink XRG granules) (50 μgAI/L) reduced midge adult emergence by ∼80% over 25 days and has been used successfully to control several midge nuisance outbreaks.

Tree Species for Recovering Nitrogen from Dairy-Farm Effluent in New Zealand

2001 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 1064-1070 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon K.F. Roygard ◽  
Brent E. Clothier ◽  
Steve R. Green ◽  
Nanthi S. Bolan
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Dairy Farm

scholarly journals Agricultural Practices in Lawngtlai Rural Development Block of Mizoram

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 01-08
Author(s):  
R. Lalthankhumi ◽  
Joseph Lalmalsawma
Keyword(s):  
Rural Development ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Agricultural Practice ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Horticultural Crops ◽  
Shifting Agriculture ◽  
Development Block ◽  
Major Factors

Agriculture constitutes one of the major sources of income among the people of Mizoram. The areas used for cultivation in Mizoram are usually slashed and burnt down to ashes and are abandoned for years, the land is used and the same plot is re-use after 3-5 years. More than half of the total population is either directly or indirectly involved in agriculture. However, the income from agriculture is less than 5% of the State Gross Domestic Product (State Economic Report, 2015). In the last few decades Mizoram witnessed several changes in agriculture pattern as many farmers have been shifting from cultivation to small- scale agricultural farming. This paper highlights the transformation of agricultural practices and the major factors affecting agricultural production and attempt is made to examine the prevailing socio- economic aspects associated with farmers with special reference to Lawngtlai Rural Development Block and a questionnaire method was used for collecting relevant information for the purpose. The research found that there exist major transformations of agricultural practices in the last couple of decades. The cycle of shifting agriculture period has been shortened drastically. It is also revealed that farmers are gradually adopting settled farming from shifting agriculture and that government intervention and assistance has been increasing more and more in this field. It is suggested that agricultural practice be transformed from jhuming to settled farming and from cultivating the traditional crops to cash crops with governmental and institutional support for shifting to higher income in agricultural and horticultural crops.

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