COVID-19, trade policy and agriculture in New Zealand: from ‘environmental vandals’ to ‘economic heroes’?

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has upended global trade. Production patterns have shifted, with widely publicised impacts on supply chains and a stark reduction in the trade in services that involve the movement of people, such as travel and tourism. While the global economy faltered and New Zealand’s services trade all but evaporated, the country’s agricultural exports remained robust. How has this strong performance in the face of adverse conditions shaped the public depiction of agricultural producers, who had previously faced a change in government and growing public criticism around agriculture’s environmental impact? I expect the export performance of agricultural producers to have resulted in a more positive public depiction. Quantitative text analysis of news media data supports this view. The average sentiment in news media about agriculture has improved over the course of the pandemic. This is not just a product of cheery reporting about export performance: I report a positive trend for articles relating to agriculture and the environment, the very issue that has been most contentious in recent years. COVID-19 has seemed an unexpected boon for agricultural producers, the public depiction of whom has been strengthened on the back of their contributions to New Zealand’s export economy.