The Impact of Post-Exceptionalism between Grassroots and the European Level

Abstract

Post-exceptionalism in agriculture and food policy takes most prominently shape at both the local grass-roots level and the European level. It is at the EU level that the CAP is being formulated and the legal boundaries are set and the political goals framed. Most policy framing about income support and the exceptional status of agriculture began at this level and was put into regulations. It is therefore interesting how the CAP is or should be changing in an era which is now coined as post exceptionalism. How are the traditional rather technical approaches and frames changing? However, at the local level, in the town halls of small municipalities and on the farmyards, the impact of the changing world and perceptions of the goals of food production and the declining taken-for grantedness of farming is felt the most. In the light of the post-exceptionalist perceptions as well as changing values and goals within rural areas, many parties are redefining agriculture and food production. The debates, and political activities about these changes travel between the local and European level and in this panel we intend to address the impact of post-exceptionalism at both levels and the relations between them.