Contingent or structural crisis in British agriculture?

The British agricultural sector is either already in or rapidly approaching some sort of crisis. Two features are particularly significant in the poli tical response to the current situation. First, there is an increasingly ne oliberal approach to agricultural policy. Sec end, agricultural policy per se is being subsumed with wider rural policies. In this paper we question t he rationality of both these trends, both theoretically through 'new wave r egulation theory' and by relating the British situation to the recent exper iences of the agricultural sectors in Australia and New Zealand.