Wild Flowers in the Wrong Field are Weeds! Examining Farmers' Constructions of Conservation

As conservation and looking after the environment are increasingly seen as important elements of farmers' activities, understanding what these concepts mean to farmers themselves is valuable. This paper is based on a qualitative study of farmers in southern Scotland. In-depth interviews were used to gain access to farmers' perceptions of the environment and conservation issues. As farmers are inevitably working closely with and using nature, their views of nature were found to be connected to this exploitative relationship with nature. Farmers' constructions of conservation are also related to this, they viewed conservation in a very instrumental way, often believing that conservation should have direct economic benefits for them, and following that, for the rest of society. It was found that conservationists influenced what farmers understand by conservation, both directly and also as they represent a competing group in the countryside. Furthermore, conservationists were seen as having the power to designate Sites of Special Scientific Interest on the farmers' land, a power which clearly affected their relationship. The meanings given by farmers to conservation and associated concepts are an essential part of how they negotiate the growing significance of conservation issues in the farming world.