Community movements and corporate images: "Landcare" in Australia

Australia's National Landcare Program is popularly seen as a successful att empt to address rural land degradation in a cooperative and coordinated man ner. Involving everyone from community Landcare groups to the corporate sec tor and government agencies, "landcare" is seen to have become something bi gger than the program that spawned it. In lieu of convincing evidence that Landcare has transformed agricultural practices in a demonstrably sustainab le direction, this high level, of involvement is itself cited as a measure of success. Such a view however, pays little attention to competing concept ualization's of what "landcare" actually means, to the power relationships between those involved, or to the multitude of other social projects in whi ch those involved are engaged. The failure to address these issues masks th e extent to which Landcare both contributes to the further intensification of farming practices, and is used as a signifier of environmental and socia l responsibility in the greening of the corporate images of its sponsors. B y sponsoring Landcare initiatives companies gain licensed access to use of the Landcare Australia logo and may position themselves as responsible corp orate citizens, irrespective of the environmental effects of their own prod ucts and manufacturing processes. A form of "green consumerism" is thereby constituted through which consumption is directed not towards the products of farmers attempting to produce more sustainably, but towards the companie s that ostensibly support their efforts to do so.