Exploring the interactions between land-based industries and communities in rural England

A reported characteristic of rural society in the UK is an increasing detachment from the land among the wider population, and a declining involvement by land managers in community activities. This paper reports on a recent project for the Commission for Rural Communities that employed ethnographic techniques to assess the various interactions between five English rural communities and the land-based industries that surround them. In particular, it examines the relationships between land-based industries and rural communities and explores whether existing theories relating to rural change, including the multifunctional rural transition, and variation within the differentiated countryside, are appropriate for explaining some of the key findings. The project found three overarching conclusions. First, the decline in jobs from agriculture and forestry has to some extent been offset by an increase in jobs from other land-based industries such as nature conservation, equine businesses and recreation. Second, those in the land-based sector have a declining influence on local governance, in line with demographic changes. Third, the picture varies considerably from place-to-place, reflecting a wide range of factors including the local social structure, influence of key individuals and the nature of the land-based sector.