WILD FLOWERS IN THE WRONG FIELD ARE WEEDS - EXAMINING FARMERS CONSTRUCTIONS OF CONSERVATION

As conservation and looking after the environment are increasingly see n as important elements of farmers' activities, understanding what the se concepts mean to farmers themselves is valuable. This paper is base d on a qualitative study of farmers in southern Scotland. In-depth int erviews were used to gain access to farmers' perceptions of the enviro nment and conservation issues. As farmers are inevitably working close ly with and using nature, their views of nature were found to be conne cted to this exploitative relationship with nature. Farmers' construct ions of conservation are also related to this, they viewed conservatio n in a very instrumental way, often believing that conservation should have direct economic benefits for them, and following that, for the r est of society. It was found that conservationists influenced what far mers understand by conservation, both directly and also as they repres ent a competing group in the countryside. Furthermore, conservationist s were seen as having the power to designate Sites of Special Scientif ic Interest on the farmers' land, a power which clearly affected their relationship. The meanings given by farmers to conservation and assoc iated concepts are an essential part of how they negotiate the growing significance of conservation issues in the farming world.