Reading Summaries (7): Locating Potential Resistance in the Weaknesses of the Global Food System

This article describes how power is negotiated in the food and agriculture arena. The other important question is what kinds of alternatives are possible in the agri-food system which dominated by global corporations? Using commodity systems analysis and theories of the firm, the authors provide a picture of the structure of the world food system through the rise of food chain clusters and food retailing. The connection between structures, space, time and resistance are used to understand the colonization of our world by the logic of the same system (global capitalism). The compression of space and the speed-up of time are essential components of accumulation in the modern era. It governs economic and political transactions to the centralization of control that we see in the agri-food system. These centralized networks described in the food chain clusters; Figure 1: The Cargill/Monsanto food chain cluster, Figure 2: The Con Agra food chain cluster, Figure 3: The Novartis/Archer Daniels Midland food chain cluster. All of the clusters are represents the situation in 1999.

Reading Summaries (6): Farm size and job quality in California & Wisconsin

This paper is describing the relationship between farm size and job quality for hired farm workers. The idea of research starting from the “gap” among scholar’s research focus where the full-time agricultural labor force in nonindustrial farming settings has been almost entirely ignored by sociologists of agriculture (Buttel, 1983). Most research in this field often addresses hired labor issues in polarized terms (family farms vs. factory farms) or only criticizing the labor relations on large-scale farms. In fact, there are many factors that shape job quality for hired workers, for example; labor policies, labor market conditions, racist anti-immigrant sentiment, and the exploitative dynamics of capitalism. For this reasons, the author’s focus is mainly on the role of farm size in shaping job quality.

 

Data conducted from two independently case studies which offer a different setting (organic fruit and vegetable production in California and dairy farming in Wisconsin). California is producing half of the nation’s high-value fresh fruits and vegetables. Most jobs on California organic farms are seasonal, temporary positions, and farmworkers face ergonomic and mechanical hazards. Of the total agricultural workforce, 95 % are foreign-born, primarily from Mexico, and anywhere from 50 to 90 % lack legal authorization. In contrast, Wisconsin’s farming sector mostly of small-scale dairy farms, year-round, full-time positions, which can be a boon for workers. However, most of those jobs are far from ideal (the 10 Dirty Jobs that Nobody Wants) due to the low wages, late shifts, extreme temperatures, and repeated exposure to manure. Wisconsin dairy farmers hire immigrants from Mexico and Central America, who now constitute 40 % of the state’s dairy farm workforce

Putting the [local] Community First!

Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) promised that the model would facilitate linkages between natural resources conservation and community well-being. However, there has frequently fallen short of expectations and many criticisms stressing on the “failure” implementation of CBNRM (Leach, et, al. 1999., Stone & Nyaupane, 2014). Some critics argue that CBNRM privileges the former over the latter and it represents the extension of neoliberalism into the exploitation of nature. In the beginning, CBNRM idea is based on the principal that if conservation and development can be achieved simultaneously and the interests of both could be served. A CBNRM project also designed to facilitating one or two communities to organize themselves so that they get benefits from the utilization of local natural resources as well as actively involved in the conservation activities (inclusion of the community in conservation agenda).

Reading Summaries (5): Corporate cooptation of organic and fair trade standards

Article by Jaffee & Howard (2010) examining the dynamics of the organics and fair trade, focusing on a ‘‘corporate countermovement’’ in increasing corporatization and renegotiating the standards of new market sectors (organics) by the comparative analysis. The question of this observation is how does capital respond to social movements and rewrite the rules of the game in an increasingly globalized agri-food system?

 

In the U.S, organic food system has a transformation to an industry worth more than $19 billion a year. In the mid1990s, corporate participation in organics sector increased dramatically approached 1% of total U.S. food sales. In fact, 14 of the 20 largest food processors in North America have acquired organic brands or versions. By the late 1990s, more than 40 certifiers were operating at the state or regional level. Moreover, throughout the process of centralizing state authority over the meaning of organic, sales of certified organic foods in the U.S. increased with an average 20% annual growth almost every year since 1990.