(Left) Outstanding in Their Fields? The Affectual Intensities of Dairy Farming in The Waikato

Abstract

As New Zealand’s highest export earner, the dairying industry has attracted much attention in recent years concerning its environmental impacts and the susceptibility of practitioners to market fluctuation. Within the dairying context, this competing matrix of discourses shapes subjective dynamics of which one of the derivatives tends to be farmer stress. Current inquiry regarding dairy farmer wellbeing in New Zealand operates under a health perspective, excluding affectual considerations. This project seeks to highlight not only the emotional intensities of the occupation, but the pre-cognitive affectual intensities. The generative potential of affective considerations is argued to enhance farmer capacity and relational agency. The possibilities of integrating affectual learning techniques into dairy farmer wellbeing initiatives are explored, through analysis of the relationship between farmer subjectivities and affectual attunement.