Presentation given by Damian Maye, Gareth Enticott and RHiannon Naylor at the recent European Society for Rural Sociology Congress - 'Places of Possibility? Rural Societies in a Neoliberal World' in Aberdeen.

1. Neoliberalising Nature: A LongitudinalNeoliberalising Nature: A Longitudinal
Study of Badger VaccinationStudy of Badger Vaccination
Damian Maye, Gareth Enticott and Rhiannon NaylorDamian Maye, Gareth Enticott and Rhiannon Naylor
WG24: Animalising rural societies: human-animal entanglements in a
neoliberal world. Changing socio-technical relations.
The XXVI European Society for Rural Sociology Congress
Places of Possibility? Rural Societies in a Neo-Liberal World
18-21 August 2015, Aberdeen Scotland

2. Badger vaccination policy context
• Bovine TB is a complex animal disease,
affecting farmed cattle and badgers in the UK.
• Significant cost burden.
• Badger vaccination: 2008 strategy (Labour);
revised and scaled back in 2010 (Coalition).
• Cost and responsibility sharing (‘institutional
blending’ (Hodge and Adams, 2010); messy
neoliberalism (Maye et al, 2014)).

3. Badger vaccination studies
• General assessments of farmer confidence are
important; use of the technology will be
dependent on farmers’ trust in it.
• To date, farmer views are not well-known.
• Two exceptions:
– Bennett and Cooke, 2005;
– Warren et al., 2013.
• More detailed analysis therefore timely; in
particular longitudinal analysis.

4. Human vaccine studies and trust in
risk regulation
• Acceptability of controversial human vaccines,
esp. MMR (Raithatha et al., 2003) - importance
of trust and local knowledge practices.
• Farmed animal vaccines – mostly uptake of new
vaccines (e.g. FMD vaccine – Bolivia study).
• Trust and confidence key items to account for.
• Trust in social institutions (Poortinga and
Pidgeon, 2003, 2005).

5. Confidence and trust framework
• Badger vaccination: effectiveness,
practicality, risk and benefits, general affective
beliefs.
• Trust in Government/TB policy: general
competence, care, fairness, openness,
credibility, reliability, integrity.
• Context: farm’s TB status/history, farm
management practices, on-farm biosecurity,
understandings of local ecology/nature.

6. Research methodologyResearch methodology
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Telephone
survey
Face-to-face
interviews
Repeat face-
to-face
interviews
Repeat face-
to-face
interviews
Repeat
telephone
survey
338 farmers in
5 areas;
score 31
confidence
statements
65 farmers/19
vets in 3 areas;
biographical
narratives & re-
score key
statements
56 farmers (of
65)/15 vets in 3
areas; video
clips & re-score
key statements
50 farmers (of
56)/15 vets in 3
areas;
influence
mapping & re-
score key
statements
220 farmers
(from original
338 sample) in
5 areas; re-
score
confidence
statements
6

7. CaseStudyAreasCaseStudyAreas

8. Index of badger vaccine acceptabilityIndex of badger vaccine acceptability
Area North East of
Cheltenham
North West
of Stroud
East of
Tetbury
South East of
Congleton
Great
Torrington
All areas
Mean Score
2010
16.44 16.83 15.48 16.36 14.43 15.92
Mean score
2014
14.22 15.25 15.83 15.26 13.23 14.73
Change
from 2010
to 2014
-2.22 -1.58 +0.35 -1.1 -1.2 -1.2
Significance 0.009* 0.022* 0.664 0.042* 0.065 0.000*

9. Level of farmer trust in governmentLevel of farmer trust in government
• Reduction in farmers’ perceptions of
government competence.
• However, perceptions of government
credibility increased.
• Levels of perceived government integrity,
reliability and openness remained consistent.

10. Farmers’ trust and confidence, 2010

11. Classification of respondents in 2010 and 2014:
2010 2014
N % N %
Distrust 48 24 58 29
Critical trust 49 24.5 50 25
Critical
Acceptance 34 17 30 15
Acceptance 69 34.5 62 31
Total 200 100 200 100

12. Beliefs about natureBeliefs about nature
• “Beliefs relating to the overabundance of
wildlife can be powerful drivers of support for
management” (Dandy et al., 2012).
• Natural balance – population control.
• ‘Clean’ and ‘dirty’ – targeted control.
• ‘Practice similarity’.

13. ConclusionConclusion
• Surveys completed during period of significant
change in the wider policy environment.
• Badger vaccine confidence levels have fallen
but respondent views have not changed
markedly over time.
• Beliefs about nature are guiding farmer views
independently of political trust.
• Farmers reluctant to reject any option outright.
• Implications for cost and responsibility sharing.

14. 14
Thank you for your attention
dmaye@glos.ac.uk
www.ccri.ac.uk