Beyond the farm gate: global networks and the remaking of Australia’s coastal horticulture regions
Journal Publication ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
Australia’s coastal horticultural regions are being reshaped through their deepening integration into global production networks (GPNs). Focusing on the north-eastern coastal strip (NECS), we explain how global market, financial, labour, intellectual property (IP) and environmental governance networks (presented as five network types) intersect with territorially specific conditions–including climate, land markets, regulatory frameworks, water systems and multifunctional rural transitions–to produce uneven regional development trajectories. Through case studies of mandarins in the North Burnett, macadamia investment in Bundaberg, labour mobility programs across various sites, proprietary berry genetics in Coffs Harbour, and reef-related environmental regulation in Far North Queensland, we show that global forces do not simply impact upon rural regions but co-constitute them. Each of the five networks generate distinctive forms of value creation, contestations and governance outcomes. The analysis demonstrates that Australia’s horticultural regions are increasingly governed through polycentric systems in which globally networked actors influence territorial change. We argue that understanding contemporary rural governance requires recognising how regional futures are shaped through these multi-scalar, mutually constitutive processes.
Journal
Australian Geographer
Publication Name
Australian Geographer
Volume
56
ISBN/ISSN
1465-3311
Edition
N/A
Issue
4
Pages Count
15
Location
N/A
Publisher
Carfax publishing
Publisher Url
N/A
Publisher Location
N/A
Publish Date
N/A
Url
N/A
Date
N/A
EISSN
N/A
DOI
10.1080/00049182.2026.2642486