Context Analysis
- the field, the map, and the players

I have created a survey of more that 60 websites relating to food and farming. These sites represent the "reality" that we live in, and it is quite diverse:-

• It ranges from History (the field). 100 years ago nearly all ploughing was done by horses - there have been massive technical changes in all aspects of agriculture
• to Organisations (the 'players'). There are many organisations involved - all sorts of businesses from multinationals to family farms, but also governments, international bodies, agencies, campaigning bodies, and they range in approach from traditionalist to high-tech
• to cultural factors -There are samples of recipes, food labelling, advertising for supplements, remedies and allergies; and so on. These are all cultural factors which influence in subtle ways.

Skimmming through these pages, we can form our own mental map of the state of play for food and farming in the UK. The introduction to the survey is here, there is an index of pages, and the start page. The pages are designed so they can be clicked through fairly quickly, though I have written a summary of the results. The survey technique is also described in greater detail.

These pages all concern food and food production, but in different ways. Together they form a 'Big Picture' of food and farming in the UK, and I have begun to transform this into a Context Analysis by examining the patterns and relationship between the websites to see if there are any deeper patterns.

Introductory Comments.

The role of Government is to control, administer and influence the realm with their policies. Soon after I began to look at UK Government food policy, I decided that I needed to look more closely at the realm they administer - the context of what they are doing.

My purpose in carrying out the context analysis was to try and establish a fair picture of where we have come from, who is involved, and what are the cultural roles of food and farming. I also hope to generate some ideas of what is likely in the future from this.

Note. My original survey was carried out in 2002, and I have now copied over this work to this site. The original pages are identical and begin at http://www.whatever-will.be/foodintro.htm.