Abstract
Methane emissions from sheep and cattle production have gained increasing profile in the context of climate change. Policy and scientific research communities have suggested a number of technological approaches to mitigate these emissions. This paper uses the concept of co-production as an analytical framework to understand farmers’ evaluation of a 'good animal’. It examines how technology and sheep and beef cattle are co-produced in the context of concerns about the climate change impact of methane. Drawing on 42 semi-structured interviews, this paper demonstrates that methane emissions are viewed as a natural and integral part of sheep and beef cattle by farmers, rather than as a pollutant. Sheep and beef cattle farmers in the UK are found to be an extremely heterogeneous group that need to be understood in their specific social, environmental and consumer contexts. Some are more amenable to appropriating methane reducing measures than others, but largely because animals are already co-constructed from the natural and the technical for reasons of increased production efficiency.
Highlights
While the impact of methane produced by sheep and beef cattle was rejected by the farmers interviewed, compliance with policy pressure, and synergies between production-oriented farming and technological measures to reduce methane meant that, at minimum, the rhetoric of methane reduction was accepted and appropriate mitigation practices adopted by some farmers
This paper extends the concept of co-production as an analytical framework for understanding the evaluation of a ‘good’ animal to encompass methane
The sheep and beef farming sector tends not to be strongly influenced by technology.The construction of an animal is predicated on a range of other factors, in particular the environment and consumer market orientation
Summary
The research reported here extends the research on water pollution, climate change and consumer links with producers to consider methane emissions from sheep and beef cattle. Such a framing emphasises the ability of technology to reduce the amount of methane produced per animal and reduce climate change impact, in large part by increasing the efficiency of production.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
