Are All Foragers the Same? Towards a Classification of Foragers

Some estimates suggest that almost a quarter of European households have members that forage, that is, pick wild products. Thus, foraging remains an important way for people to engage with their surrounding environment. Foraging has been associated both with the potential negative impacts it may have and with the potential positive effects it may bring. This article engages with the diversity of foragers and outlines the characteristics of their groups, consequently illustrating the potential and threats associated with various forager groups. It suggests that a targeted political engagement with these groups can help to address several pressing environmental, economic and social issues. The article employs two theoretical dimensions: motivation and knowledge to define two exclusive binary delimitating variables––the type of motivation and adapted knowledge frames. The variables are used to identify four subgroups of foragers: rooted foragers, lifestyle foragers, subsistence foragers and commercial foragers. The article relies on 30 in-depth interviews conducted in Latvia to illustrate the characteristics of these groups.