Food Systems Failure: The Global Food Crisis and the Future of Agriculture

317 Pages·2011·3.76 MB·English

by  Christopher Rosin

FOOD SYSTEMS FAILURE
This book provides a critical assessment of the contemporary global food system
in light of the heightening food crisis, as evidence of its failure to achieve food
security for the world’s population. A key aspect of this failure is identified in the
neoliberal strategies which emphasize industrial efficiencies, commodity
production and free trade ideologies that underlie agricultural and food policies
in what are frequently referred to as ‘developed countries’. The book examines
both the contradictions in the global food system as well as the implications of
existing ideologies of production associated with commodity industrial
agriculture using evidence from relevant international case studies. The first
section presents the context of the food crisis with contributions from leading
international academics and food policy activists, including climate scientists,
ecologists and social scientists. These contributions identify current
contradictions in policy and practice that impede solutions to the food crisis. Set
within this context, the second section assesses current conditions in the global
food system, including economic viability, sustainability and productivity. Case
study analyses of regions exposed to neoliberal policy at the production end of
the system provide insights into both current challenges to feeding the world, as
well as alternative strategies for creating a more just and moral food system.
Christopher Rosin is a Research Fellow and Deputy Director with the Centre for
Sustainability: Agriculture, Food, Energy, Environment at the University of Otago
in Dunedin, New Zealand. His primary research interest is in the social
negotiation of sustainability in the agricultural sector.
Paul Stock is a Lecturer of Sociology and Research Fellow with the Centre for
Sustainability: Agriculture, Food, Energy, Environment at the University of Otago
in Dunedin, New Zealand. Paul’s current research interests include the social and
cultural aspects of agriculture, the intersection of morality and the environment,
and the Catholic Worker movement.
Hugh Campbell is Professor of Sociology and former Director of the Centre for
Sustainability: Agriculture, Food, Energy, Environment at the University of Otago
in Dunedin, New Zealand. His research interests include rural sociology,
sustainable agriculture, neoliberalism and agrifood governance, food waste,
masculinity and rural gender.
FOOD SYSTEMS FAILURE
The Global Food Crisis and the
Future of Agriculture
Edited by
Christopher Rosin
Paul Stock
Hugh Campbell
First published 2012
by Earthscan
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Earthscan
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Earthscan is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2012 selection and editorial material, Christopher Rosin,
Paul Stock and Hugh Campbell; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Food systems failure : the global food crisis and the future of agriculture / [editors]
Christopher Rosin, Paul Stock, Hugh Campbell.
p. cm.
1. Food supply. 2. Food industry and trade. 3. Hunger. 4. Food security. I. Rosin, Christopher J. (Christopher John) II. Stock, Paul V., III.
Campbell, Hugh, 1964–HD9000.5.F599 2011
338.1--dc23
2011021896

ISBN: 978-1-849-71229-3 (hbk)
CONTENTS
List of figures and tables
List of contributors
Prologue: Food security – now is the future
ROBERT T. WATSON
1 Introduction: Shocking the global food system
CHRISTOPHER ROSIN, PAUL STOCK AND HUGH CAMPBELL
PART 1
The contradictions of the ‘feed the world’ ideology
2 Agriculture and food systems: Our current challenge
JULES PRETTY
Let us eat cake?: Historically reframing the problem of world hunger and its
3
purported solutions
HUGH CAMPBELL
Trading into hunger? Trading out of hunger?: International food trade and
4
the debate on food security
BILL PRITCHARD
5 Biofuels and the financialization of the global food system
PHILIP MCMICHAEL
6 The right to food: A right for everyone
CLAIRE MAHON
7 Plentiful food?: Nutritious food?
COLIN D. BUTLER AND JANE DIXON
8 A Utopian perspective on global food security
PAUL STOCK AND MICHAEL CAROLAN
PART 2
The condition of neoliberal agriculture
9 Climate change and the resilience of commodity food production in Australia
GEOFFREY LAWRENCE, CAROL RICHARDS, IAN GRAY AND NAOMI HANSAR
10 Food security and the de-agrarianization of the Indonesian economy
JEFF NEILSON AND BUSTANUL ARIFIN
11 ‘Soyization’ and food security in South America
NAVé WALD, CHRISTOPHER ROSIN AND DOUG HILL
Negotiating organic, fair and ethical trade: Lessons from smallholders in
12
Uganda and Kenya
KIAH SMITH AND KRISTEN LYONS
Food for thought?: Linking urban agriculture and local food production for
13
food security and development in the South Pacific
ALEC THORNTON
14 Conclusions: Towards a more just and flexible global food system
CHRISTOPHER ROSIN, PAUL STOCK AND HUGH CAMPBELL
Index
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Figures
7.1 The percentage of fat found in chickens
9.1 The Murray-Darling Basin
10.1 Map of Indonesia including Yahukimo District
11.1 Map of Santiago del Estero Province, Argentina
12.1 Map of Kenya showing approximate location of Iveti Hills
Map of Uganda including Mt. Elgon National Park and approximate location
12.2
of Kyaganza sub-county
13.1 Map of South Pacific Islands, including Fiji and Samoa
Tables
5.1 Biofuel investments by country, 2009
7.1 Nutrient intake targets for a healthy diet
10.1 Production of major food commodities in Indonesia, 2006–09
10.2 Agricultural households in Indonesia, 1993 and 2003
14.1 Solutions to the food crisis as identified in selected sources
CONTRIBUTORS
Bustanul Arifin is Professor of Agricultural Economics in the University of
Lampung and Professorial Fellow in the International Center for Applied
Finance and Economics at Bogor Agricultural University (IPB). He has
published 36 books and over 80 journal articles and book chapters. He is
currently a member of the Food Security Council, National Innovation
Council, and the Advisory Team for International Trade Negotiations.
Colin D. Butler is a research academic at the Australian National University, and
also medical director of BODHI, an NGO he co-founded in 1989. BODHI has
projects with poor and marginalized people in seven Asian countries. In
2009, Colin was named as one of the 100 “doctors for the planet”.
Hugh Campbell is Professor of Sociology and former Director of the Centre for
the Study of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CSAFE) at the University
of Otago, New Zealand. His research interests include rural sociology,
sustainable agriculture, neoliberalism and agri-food governance, food waste,
masculinity and rural gender.
Michael Carolan is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Colorado State
University. His areas of expertise include environmental sociology, food and
agricultural policy, and social theory. He is author of the recently published
books The Real Cost of Cheap Food (Earthscan, 2011) and Embodied Food
Politics (Ashgate, 2011).
Jane Dixon is Senior Fellow at the Australian National University. Her research
on the public health implications of food system transitions takes place in
Australia and Thailand.
Ian Gray is Adjunct Associate Professor at Charles Sturt University at Wagga
Wagga, NSW. His research interests cover the sociology of community, rural