FRANKENSTEIN’S CHICKEN: UNDERSTANDING LOCAL OPPOSITION TO BROILER FARMS Beyond the Edge: Australia’s First Peri-Urban Conference, La Trobe 2013 Dr Elizabeth Taylor McKenzie Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning University of Melbourne
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Taylor_E_Frankenstein’s chicken: Understanding local opposition to industrial broiler farms
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FRANKENSTEIN’S CHICKEN: UNDERSTANDING
LOCAL OPPOSITION TO BROILER FARMS
Beyond the Edge: Australia’s First Peri-Urban Conference, La Trobe 2013
Dr Elizabeth Taylor McKenzie Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning University of Melbourne
Chicken consumption in Australia
595,700,000
chickens p.a.
Chicken production types
Broiler system
Peri-urban conflict
“The question is how to reconcile the
starker reality of, say, broiler chicken
production, with the cosy images of a
‘rural idyll’” (Gilg 1996 quoted in
Henderson 2005 p110)
Early conflict and regulation: backyard chook banished
• “Thus while many of the concerns raised by the objectors suggests a need to look at the adequacy of the Broiler Code requirements, that is not our role. Our role is to determine whether this code has been complied with, as is required and as we have explained above”. (Catani 2012).
• “Residents…nonetheless, on hearing Dr Cowan’s evidence…remained concerned about the impacts of the proposal. In this regard Mr D’Oliveyra advised that the residents do not have the expertise or the resources to verify evidence of the technical nature that was presented by the two experts at the hearing”. (Beeac 2009).
• “[Proponents claim that] existing and proposed boundary buffers will be more than adequate to minimise any odour emissions. Superior technology is already implemented for the existing sheds…Inspections by Shire Officers have proven that any odours in area have not originated from the broiler farm – although the farm is routinely blamed”. (Nar Nar Goon 2007)
Role of spatial regulation
Amenity problem
Regulatory response
Increased size &
technology
Creepiness
‘Stop monster chicken factory’
• Odour dust etc. can be
managed technically
• Less so image control:
factory farming not
comfortably marketed
• Conflicts with rural-residential
expectations
• Land use conflicts also
channel uncomfortable
emotions
• Mix of Not In My Back Yard
(NIMBY) and Not On Planet
Earth (NOPE)
Responses to broiler farms
Grief / horror
NIMBY
NOPE
Frankenstein’s broiler chicken
• “It's not just a few chickens, it’s close to two million a year!” (Pakenham Gazette, 2011)
• “Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” (Frankenstein)
• “The ruthless efficiency, the relegation to a place out of sight, the sordid and undramatic lining up for mass slaughter; these are things we recognize only too well – when we think of them. And we prefer not to think of them for long”. (Visser 1986 p145).
Key references
• Gaynor, (2012) “Fowls and the Contested Productive Spaces of Suburbia”, in Atkins, P. (2012). Animal Cities, Farnham : Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2012.
• Henderson, S. R. (2005). "Managing land‐use conflict around urban centres: Australian poultry farmer attitudes towards relocation." Applied Geography 25(2): 97‐119.
• Huxley, M., (1984), “In Search of ‘The Good Life’: Being a Political Economy of Certain Local Government By‐Laws within the Metropolitan Area of Melbourne, Victoria”, Urban Policy and Research: 3(1).