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shows the so-called hourglass shape of the agrifood market: communication between the two large groups of farmers and consumers—respectively bottom and top—is mediated by small groups of very large traders, processors, and retailers. Oligopolies or partial oligopolies (markets that are dominated by several large firms) are present in all fundamental markets for industrial food production: whether seeds, chemicals, trading, processing, or retailing (HoltGiménez and Patel 2009, Chapter 2; Oxford Farming Conference 2012). The existence of oligopolies is exemplified in for four industries: grain trade, retail, agrochemicals, and commercial seeds.
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Modern food production may be considered an epitome of the paradoxes that humanity is facing as we edge on into the twenty-first century. It is as much the source of problems that plague modern societies as it can be its solution. While more food than ever is produced, more people than ever suffer from some form of malnutrition. Even though agribus...
Citations
... The matrix's attributes are based on the 10 elements of agroecology from FAO (Wezel et al., 2020), the ecological-democratic quality of food systems matrix developed by Horstink (2017), the exploratory concept of 'depressed and contested agro-territories' (Horstink et al., 2023), the principles of food sovereignty (International Forum for Food Sovereignty, 2007;Beauregard and Gottlieb, 2009) and, lastly, the attributes of food system sustainability as explored by Eakin et al. (2017). The attributes concentrate on the role of land in food politics and the securement of fair and healthy agrifood systems. ...
... 3. Existence of democratic land reform Redistribution of land; level of access to land; changes in tenure; tenure security; redesignation of land use; place of agriculture in the economy; methods of cultivation (Tuma, 1965); inclusive decision-making for sustainable and fair land use; those that bear the brunt of environmental costs have a determining say in land reform (Horstink, 2017). ...
This article offers an exploratory operationalisation of the concept of land sovereignty applied to land politics in 2 agro-territories from different countries and continents sharing a common language and deeply linked histories: Portugal and Brazil. These display a similar model of agricultural development, representing a contradiction between the promise of profit based on aggressive exploitation of the territory and the marginalised condition of its population. How this agricultural model took hold in each country and manifested the agrarian question differs according to key socio-historical factors, such as the role of each in the colonial history that links them. Today, however, these agro-territories face similar challenges: human rights abuses, environmental destruction, lack of sound territorial management and fair policies, coupled with the dilapidation of socio-economic infrastructures. This makes them especially vulnerable to climate change, unemployment and poverty, while also caught in a clash between development models: a hegemonic hyper-intensive production model and the peasant-based model that has been resisting the advances of the former. This double jeopardy has prompted us to speak of ‘depressed and contested agro-territories’. Our study shows how, in the case of Brazil, despite physical violence and threats to life, social movements are propelling land reform, linking it to the concept of the social function of land. In Portugal, in contrast, the country’s alignment with neoliberal development has civil society divided about how to contest land use. Our analysis indicates that in both cases: (i) today’s land politics are heavily biased towards a neoliberal, export-based, hyper-intensive agriculture controlled by large corporations, with weak legislation in place to defend both social and environmental rights; (ii) land reform based on land sovereignty and the social function of land is deemed crucial to assist agro-territories in regaining socio-ecological balance and to attain democratisation of land politics by regaining control over land, natural resources and local markets.
... Az elmúlt 50 évben a világ élelmezési rendszere gyökeresen megváltozott és egyre inkább globalizálttá vált. Az élelmezési rendszer, a fogyasztói igények kielégítését és a hozamfokozást szem előtt tartva, nem utolsó sorban gazdasági és politikai nyomásra, függővé vált az olcsó nyersanyagoktól, a gépektől, a vetőmagoktól, a szintetikus növényvédőszerektől és a műtrágyáktól (Howard 2009, Horstink 2017. Ez a rendszer társadalmi és környezeti szempontból is negatív hatással bír: a kistermelők és a kis élelmiszeripari cégek háttérbe szorulnak (Davidova és Thomson 2014, Berti és Mulligan 2016; párhuzamosan terjed a minőségi éhezés és az elhízás (FAO 2022); a kémiai úton előállított készítmények okszerűtlen használata befolyásolja a talajtermékenységet, veszélyezteti a víz-és levegőtisztaságot, a biológiai sokféleséget, illetve a rovarbeporzást (Müller et al. 2016, Barros-Rodríguez et al. 2021; Az előállított élelmiszer csökkent tápanyagtartalma (Dériné Karácsony 2001, Stein 2010, Téglásiné Kovács 2016 és az élelmiszerben maradt vegyszermaradványok miatt egészségünk is veszélybe kerül (Musarurwa 2019). ...
Az utóbbi évtizedekben a mezőgazdasági termelés gyakorlata és az élelmezési rendszer gyökeresen megváltozott. Az okszerűtlen mezőgazdasági gyakorlatok számos környezeti problémához vezettek, amelyek hatással vannak társadalmunk egészére is. Környezetkímélő, ugyanakkor gazdaságilag is hosszútávon fenntartható gazdálkodási formák és alternatív megközelítések azonban léteznek. Az agroökológia nem csak tudományos megközelítéssel, de társadalmi és gyakorlati oldalról is, komplexen támogatja a méltányos élelmezési rendszerre való áttérést. Az ENSZ Élelmezésügyi és Mezőgazdasági Világszervezete (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO) kidolgozta az agroökológia 10 alapelemét, ami segítségül szolgál egy fenntartható, „helyreállító” gazdálkodási rendszer létrehozásában. A 10 alapelemből 4 kapcsolódik szorosan a természetvédelemhez, ezeket választottuk ki kutatásunkhoz: biológiai sokféleség, együtthatások, újrahasznosítás és rugalmas ellenállóképesség. A kiválasztott alapelemek gyakorlati megvalósulásának értékelése céljából vizsgáltuk a gazdálkodói és a fogyasztói oldalt. A gazdálkodói gyakorlat értékeléséhez mélyinterjút készítettünk két vizsgált gazdaság vezetőjével, a fogyasztók tudásának és motivációinak megismeréséhez pedig kérdőíves felmérést alkalmaztunk a gazdaság rendszeres vásárlói között. A kérdések összeállításához releváns szakirodalomra alapozott indikátorokat határoztunk meg, amelyekhez interjú/kérdőíves kérdéseket rendeltünk. A mélyinterjúk eredményei rávilágítottak arra, hogy mely gyakorlatok alkalmazásával teljesíti a két vizsgált gazdaság az agroökológia természetvédelmi vonatkozású alapelemeit. A gazdaságok fogyasztói körében végzett felmérés alapján megállapítható, hogy a vásárlókat tudatosság jellemzi, döntésükben nem csak az egészséges élelmiszer iránti igény dominál, de a környezetbarát és a fenntartható mezőgazdasági gyakorlatok alkalmazása is fontos szempont.
... The objective of this study is to contribute to one possible Food Future for Portugal, that of strong sustainability, by drawing on scientific knowledge (e.g. on the functioning of food systems 14 , the political economy of food 15 and lessons from agro-ecology) as well as practical knowledge and experience of the actors involved in innovative sustainable farming initiatives and the respective food chains, so as to develop decision-making tools that are of use to all actors. By strong sustainability-a term coined to counter the hollowing of the sustainability concept-I understand the conducting of human activities not only with respect for ecosystems and all manner of lifeforms but also with the active promotion of their thriving, while ensuring that social, economic and ecological costs and benefits of these activities are equitably distributed. ...
The specific objectives that help shape the research are: 1 - the development of an inventory of innovative sustainable farming initiatives in Portugal. The cut-off criteria for selection will be the size of the enterprise (no bigger than SME) and its ecological and social footprint (indicators such as water efficiency, water recovery, soil regeneration, all-round productivity per hectare, energy consumption, job creation). Other criteria for the initial selection have to do with region, gender and years of education of initiators, so as to involve a broader spectrum of entrepreneurs; 2 - the participatory creation and testing of a socially and ecologically valid performance assessment matrix to help characterise and evaluate the potential of different sustainable farming initiatives. The purpose of this assessment tool is to assist different actors in evaluating how well a particular initiative performs on a range of attributes that are important to the different actors and that may be used to decide whether an initiative is living up to its promises, and if not, where the bottlenecks lie; 3 - the collaborative identification of the best forms of organisation for small-scale ecological farming initiatives. Small may be beautiful but can be overshadowed by projects that favour economies of scale.
This study investigated the implementation of agroecological principles on three organic farms in Hungary, focusing on four resource-focused, nature conservation-related agroecological basic elements identified by the FAO: biodiversity, interactions, recycling, and resilience. This research employed a mixed-methods approach, utilising in-depth interviews as a technique to explore farmers’ practices and a questionnaire survey as a tool to assess consumer perspectives (with 63 respondents). The interviews facilitated a qualitative exploration of how agroecological practices are applied on farms, providing rich insights into the farmers’ experiences. Meanwhile, the questionnaire survey served as a structured instrument to measure consumer awareness and motivations concerning environmentally friendly farming methods. NVivo 12 software was employed for qualitative data analysis, assisting in coding and organizing responses to better understand recurring themes and patterns. The researchers found that all farms exhibited high biodiversity levels, facilitated through practices such as companion planting, crop rotation, and maintaining natural habitat patches. Agroecological farmers focus on practices suited to the landscape, fostering beneficial organisms and enhancing interactions between nature and agriculture. Integrating farm components (e.g., crops, livestock, water) promotes synergies that improve productivity and reduce reliance on external inputs. Recycling resources (like organic waste) within the farm increases efficiency, while resilience is strengthened through biodiversity, allowing farms to better withstand environmental stress. Direct marketing builds connections between producers and consumers, raising awareness of conservation practices. Consumer awareness regarding environmentally friendly agricultural practices was notably high, with findings indicating that health and ecological conservation motivations drive their purchasing decisions. This study highlights the context-dependent nature of agroecological practices, revealing that while implementation is robust, economic sustainability constraints may limit the extent to which all elements can be effectively applied. Since this research has certain limitations due to the limited sample size, expanding the study to include more farms would strengthen the findings. Nonetheless, these findings underscore the importance of integrating agroecological principles in organic farming to enhance biodiversity and foster sustainable agricultural practices.