Changing Animal Bodies: Breeding Responses to Environmental, Economic and Social Pressures

The project was placed at the Centre for Gender Research, Uppsala University.

Animals are often used as indicators of environmental quality. For example the presence, absence and abundance of different fish in a river are used as indicators of the environmental quality and ecological robustness of the river and catchment.

Focusing on responses to environmental, economic and social pressures, the project used three cases to illustrate how farming has, is currently, and might respond to changing socio-environmental contexts.

The three cases examined:

1. the changing economic circumstances of poultry production, (led by Helena Nordström Källström, SLU)
2. the contested politics of traditional breeds (led by Camilla Eriksson, SLU/UU)
3. the environmental pressures faced by pollinating insects (led by Jacob Bull, UU).

By so doing it offered insight into, the embodied realities of farm labour, how farmers and farming respond to contemporary challenges, and how we might build robust agricultural futures.