LOOKING THROUGH EUROPEAN EYES - A REEVALUATION OF AGRICULTURAL DEREGULATION IN NEW-ZEALAND

This paper revisits the issue of deregulation in New Zealand, and sugg ests that a previous account by the author in 1989 was overly influenc ed by the ethnocentricities of a British perspective which viewed New Zealand as a 'laboratory' for what might happen following agricultural deregulation in Europe. A revised account based on interviews conduct ed in 1994 suggests an approach to research which is more sensitive to different discursive narratives of agricultural change. Evidence of p ost-deregulation adjustments by farmers is reviewed, and the major dis cursive accounts of post-subsidy agriculture by government, by Federat ed Farmers, and by academics - are discussed. These narratives have te nded to 'come together' to present a mutually cohesive story of short- term pain and long-term gain. However, they tend to cloak the prospect s for further painful adjustment in a 'free market' agriculture prone to fluctuating commodity prices, reorganization of the financing of ag ro-commodity production and prioritization of ethical issues in food p roduction.