Paper short abstract:

EU policies like the decision to drop the EU-wide milk quota change Austrian dairy farmers' lives. Choosing the ensuing "milk crisis" as the common thread, I trace its ambiguous meanings, complex political-economic interweaving and farmers' ideas on a good life and unwanted change.

Paper long abstract:

Brought about by the political decision to drop the EU-wide milk quota in March 2015 the "milk crisis" dominated the media and lent new urgency to the public protest of the Austrian dairy farmers' association "IG Milch" and their efforts to change the direction of current agricultural politics. Meanwhile life went on at the Lower Austrian organic dairy farm "Hinterleiten". Mother, father and son milked the cows twice a day, chatted with the driver of the milk tank truck and filled out forms for the authorities checking if they comply with the guidelines for organic production. The "milk crisis" seemed far away but nonetheless, the political decisions left traces in the farmers' daily lives making them wish for a change.

Seen through the lens of anthropological concepts of crisis my qualitative and ethnographic data speaks about Austrian dairy farmers' views on desirable and undesirable change. I examine the diverse and complex connections between the farmers' hopes for a good life and appreciation, their issues of criticism and judgment and the political-economic situation they find themselves in. What do the farmers' crisis claims entail in this context? What do they mean and what do they do?

These are the central questions I'm following in the course of working on my master thesis at the Institute for Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Vienna.