‘We can only grow grass here’: Unsettling the traditionality of grassland narrative

Abstract

Ruminant livestock farming is predominant in England’s grassland regions, including the south-west of England (SWE). The common farming view that such regions are only good for growing grass amounts to a simplistic ‘traditionality of grasslands’ (TOG) narrative, which may discount the potential of these regions to align food production with diverse, sustainable consumption. We interrogate the assumptions underlying the TOG narrative through the analysis of contemporary and historical agricultural data sources and recent interviews with SWE food producers to reveal an SWE traditionality of mixed farming and diverse food production. By unsettling the TOG narrative, we draw attention to multiple elements intertwining physical limitations of land with powerful but mutable human-made limitations of the wider food system as drivers of land use in the SWE, underscoring the role and responsibility of policymakers to ensure wider dynamics of the food system enable the transition to diverse, sustainable food production in England’s grassland regions.

Reference

Broomfield C, Maher A, Winter M. ‘We can only grow grass here’: Unsettling the traditionality of grassland narrative. Rural History. Published online 2025:1-19. doi:10.1017/S0956793324000219

Read more here. See also the TABLE explainer, Meat, metrics and mindsets: Exploring debates on the role of livestock and alternatives in diets and farming