Agricultural industries in developed countries may need to consider transformative change if they are to respond effectively to contemporary challenges, including a changing climate. In this paper we apply a resilience lens to analyze a deliberate attempt by Australian governments to restructure the dairy industry, and then utilize this analysis to assess the usefulness of resilience thinking for contemporary agricultural transformations. Our analysis draws on findings from a case study of market deregulation in the subtropical dairy industry. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with dairy producers, their service providers, and industry and government staff. We found the adaptive cycle concept contributed to understanding how deregulation changed industry structures and working practices, how those changes led to feedbacks within the production system and supply chain, and how the industry following deregulation has experienced periods of stability and instability. Regime shifts were associated with an increase in demand for human capital, a degradation of cognitive social capital and a reduction in farm income. Findings identified that were not readily explained by the resilience thinking conceptual framework include a producer’s ability to anticipate and make choices and the change in social and power relationships in the industry.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Australia, dairy industry, market deregulation, resilience theory, transformation
Research Division:	Environmental Sciences
Research Group:	Environmental Science and Management
Research Field:	Natural Resource Management
Objective Division:	Environment
Objective Group:	Environmental and Natural Resource Evaluation
Objective Field:	Institutional Arrangements for Environmental Protection
UTAS Author:	Mitchell, M (Dr Michael Mitchell)
ID Code:	95942
Year Published:	2014
Web of Science® Times Cited:	21
Deposited By:	Geography and Environmental Studies
Deposited On:	2014-10-13
Last Modified:	2017-10-31
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