Futures for rural Australia : from agricultural productivism to community sustainability

"In our progressively globalised economy thre has been a decisive shift from resource-based investment to knowledge-based investment; from assembly-line production to flexible specialisation; from semi-rigid nationally controlled and regulated production to flows of images and ideas in an increasingly deregulated world market; and from regionally disconnected national production to globally-coordinated regional production (Waters, 1995; Lash and Urry, 1994; Crook et al., 1992). As global citizens are fed an endless (and seamless) stream of images of waste dumps, oil spills, nuclear explosions, and Jurassic Park monsters, they are concerned with the risks asssociated with Big Science (Beck, 1992). They become disenchanted and lose trust in it. They begin to turn 'green', demanding unpolluted streams, national parks, more trees, rights for animals and, most of all, chemical-free foods for themselves and their families. And where do they get that food?"--p. 1.