Large-scale socio-economic, political and structural changes characterize contemporary agriculture and food today. This Handbook provides an essential overview to help readers understand the future evolution of agri-food through an analysis of the economy in key regions around the world. Along with chapters that investigate agri-food in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Oceania, the book includes contributions that cover topics such as labor, science and technology, the financialization of agri-food, and supermarkets. This Handbook will be required reading for researchers, scholars and students in the social sciences looking to learn more about agriculture and food. Policy makers and industry leaders interested in agri-food will also find this to be an insightful read. Contributors: G. Aboites, C. Bain, J.S. Barbosa Cavalcanti, M.Belo Moreira, B. Bock, A. Bonanno, B. Brandl, L. Busch, I. Cucco, T. Dandachi, M. del Rosario Castro Bernardini, J. Dixon, M. Etxezarreta, M. Fairbairn, M. Fonte, L. Glenna, L. Horlings, K. Jones, E.E. Krone, G. Lawrence, F. Martinez, M. Miele, G. Otero, A. Patel-Campillo, G. Pechlaner, E. Ransom, J. Rosell, C. Sachs, K. Sekine, L. Viladomiu

This book proposes a theory of the legitimation crisis of neoliberalism. Through analyses of the legitimation crisis of regulated capitalism and the characteristics and theories of neoliberalism, the author contends that neoliberalism is affected by crises of system and social integration. The crisis of system integration refers to the inability of market mechanisms to address problems of capital accumulation and social stability. The crisis of social integration refers to the unmet promises of economic growth and social well-being. While attempts to address these crises are carried out through state intervention, crisis resolutions are inadequate due to the limits of the free market system and current state forms. Alessandro Bonanno contends that, as ideological and material forms of legitimation are inadequate, and processes of capital accumulation are sluggish and resistance weak, change is necessary. He outlines how this change will be controlled by corporate actors, minimally address the demands of subordinate groups, and marginally alter existing conditions.

This book addresses the relevance of geographical indication (GI) as a tool for local and socio-economic development and democratization of agri-food, with case studies from Asia, Europe and the Americas. A geographical indication is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. It provides not only a way for businesses to leverage the value of their geographically unique products, but also to inform and attract consumers. A highly contested topic, GI is praised as a tool for the revitalization of agricultural communities, while also criticized for being an instrument exploited by global corporate forces to promote their interests. There are concerns that the promotion of GI may hamper the establishment of democratic forms of development. The contributing authors address this topic by offering theoretically informed investigations of GI from around the world. The book includes case studies ranging from green tea in Japan, olive oil in Turkey and dried fish in Norway, to French wine and Mexican Mezcal. It also places GI in the broader context of the evolution and trends of agri-food under neoliberal globalization. The book will be of interest to researchers, policy makers and students in agri-food studies, sociology of food and agriculture, geography, agricultural and rural economics, environmental and intellectual property law, and social development.

In recent years labor relations have altered significantly and new and more serious forms of labor marginalization and control have emerged. This book looks at labor in agriculture and food in a global era by studying salient characteristics of the conditions and use of labor in global agri-food. Written by experienced and also emerging scholars, the chapters present a wealth of empirical data and robust theorizations that allow readers to grasp the complexity of this topic. The volume stresses the new and emerging dimensions of labor and its continuous importance under globalization. Relevant to those studying the use and position of labor in neoliberal globalization, topics addressed include: Globalization and change in labor relations, mobility of agricultural labor, social upgrading, labor relations and resistance in the value chain.

Large-scale socio-economic, political and structural changes characterize contemporary agriculture and food today. This Handbook provides an essential overview to help readers understand the future evolution of agri-food through an analysis of the economy in key regions around the world. Along with chapters that investigate agri-food in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Oceania, the book includes contributions that cover topics such as labor, science and technology, the financialization of agri-food, and supermarkets. This Handbook will be required reading for researchers, scholars and students in the social sciences looking to learn more about agriculture and food. Policy makers and industry leaders interested in agri-food will also find this to be an insightful read. Contributors: G. Aboites, C. Bain, J.S. Barbosa Cavalcanti, M.Belo Moreira, B. Bock, A. Bonanno, B. Brandl, L. Busch, I. Cucco, T. Dandachi, M. del Rosario Castro Bernardini, J. Dixon, M. Etxezarreta, M. Fairbairn, M. Fonte, L. Glenna, L. Horlings, K. Jones, E.E. Krone, G. Lawrence, F. Martinez, M. Miele, G. Otero, A. Patel-Campillo, G. Pechlaner, E. Ransom, J. Rosell, C. Sachs, K. Sekine, L. Viladomiu

For the last three decades, the Neoliberal regime, emphasising economic growth through deregulation, market integration, expansion of the private sector, and contraction of the welfare state has shaped production and consumption processes in agriculture and food. These institutional arrangements emerged from and advanced academic and popular beliefs about the virtues of private, market-based coordination relative to public, state-based problem solving. This book presents an informed, constructive dialogue around the thesis that the Neoliberal mode of governance has reached some institutional and material limits. Is Neoliberalism exhausted? How should we understand crisis applied to Neoliberalism? What are the opportunities and risks linked to the construction of alternatives? The book advances a critical evaluation of the evidence supporting claims of rupture of, or incursions into, the Neoliberal model. It also analyzes pragmatic responses to these critiques including policy initiatives, social mobilization and experimentation at various scales and points of entry. The book surveys and synthesizes a range of sociological frames designed to grapple with the concepts of regimes, systemic crisis and transitions. Contributions include historical analysis, comparative analysis and case studies of food and agriculture from around the globe. These highlight particular aspects of crisis and responses, including the potential for continued resilience, a neo-productivist return, as well as the emergence and scaling up of alternative models.

The importance of the global rural-urban matrix is often overlooked due to urban-normativity. But sometimes agrarian populism and a pastoral rural imaginary result in the equally fallacy of a rural-normativity, as in Jeffersonian nostalgia for a lost way of life that never existed. The nature of rurality in North America is important to study, but as Alessandro Bonanno makes clear, we cannot limit ourselves to the study of one or two nation-states. We must take a global perspective when it comes to the bio-physical environment and the nature of the world capitalist system. This collection takes such a perspective. The editor frames the contributions with a Meta-Paradigm called the New Political Economy Perspective (NPEP) and explains the roots of that approach in Classical Political Economy and the Canadian Political Economy Tradition of Harold Adams Innis. There are chapters by an anthropologist, a geographer, two generalist sociologists and a group of rural sociologists. There is also a chapter on psychiatry and mental health; and, another chapter which discusses pedagogy. The use of an inter-disciplinary framework to study global issues makes this a stimulating book which provides a window on issues that are often overlooked.

For the last three decades, the Neoliberal regime, emphasising economic growth through deregulation, market integration, expansion of the private sector, and contraction of the welfare state has shaped production and consumption processes in agriculture and food. These institutional arrangements emerged from and advanced academic and popular beliefs about the virtues of private, market-based coordination relative to public, state-based problem solving. This book presents an informed, constructive dialogue around the thesis that the Neoliberal mode of governance has reached some institutional and material limits. Is Neoliberalism exhausted? How should we understand crisis applied to Neoliberalism? What are the opportunities and risks linked to the construction of alternatives? The book advances a critical evaluation of the evidence supporting claims of rupture of, or incursions into, the Neoliberal model. It also analyzes pragmatic responses to these critiques including policy initiatives, social mobilization and experimentation at various scales and points of entry. The book surveys and synthesizes a range of sociological frames designed to grapple with the concepts of regimes, systemic crisis and transitions. Contributions include historical analysis, comparative analysis and case studies of food and agriculture from around the globe. These highlight particular aspects of crisis and responses, including the potential for continued resilience, a neo-productivist return, as well as the emergence and scaling up of alternative models.

Why do small farms continue to coexist with ever-larger farming operations in advanced Western societies? Through a thorough case study of Italy and a comparative analysis of small farms in the United States, Dr. Bonanno seeks to answer this question, exploring the complex relationships among farm family members' ideology and behavior, the small farm economic sector, and the interaction of small farms within the relevant spheres of society. He finds that, at the structural level, a lack of occupational alternatives and contradictions within both labor and land markets often force farmers to retain marginal farms despite personal dissatisfaction. At the ideological level, many farm families display deep attachment to the agrarian way of life and cite this as a fundamental reason for not leaving the farm for other work. Dr. Bonanno also analyzes the role of small farms within the social system and concludes that they serve a legitimative function. This legitimative role fosters contradictions within the social and economic systems that the state is unable to resolve, thus contributing to the continuation of a dual structure in agricultural development-OE3/4large and very large farms at one end of the scale and marginal but persistent small farms at the other.

Why do small farms continue to coexist with ever-larger farming operations in advanced Western societies? Through a thorough case study of Italy and a comparative analysis of small farms in the United States, Dr. Bonanno seeks to answer this question, exploring the complex relationships among farm family members' ideology and behavior, the small farm economic sector, and the interaction of small farms within the relevant spheres of society. He finds that, at the structural level, a lack of occupational alternatives and contradictions within both labor and land markets often force farmers to retain marginal farms despite personal dissatisfaction. At the ideological level, many farm families display deep attachment to the agrarian way of life and cite this as a fundamental reason for not leaving the farm for other work. Dr. Bonanno also analyzes the role of small farms within the social system and concludes that they serve a legitimative function. This legitimative role fosters contradictions within the social and economic systems that the state is unable to resolve, thus contributing to the continuation of a dual structure in agricultural development-OE3/4large and very large farms at one end of the scale and marginal but persistent small farms at the other.

This book is a comparative analysis of the agrarian policies and the agricultural systems of the European Community (EC) and the United States (US). It provides an overview of the agricultural policies of the EC and US, their stated objectives, and their impact on both agricultural sectors.

This volume explores the contents, forms, and actors that characterize current opposition to the corporate neoliberal agri-food regime. Designed to generate a coherent, informed and updated analysis of resistance in agri-food, empirical and theoretical contributions analyze the relationship between expressions of the neoliberal corporate system and various projects of opposition. Contributions included in the volume probe established forms and rationales of resistance including civic agriculture, consumer- and community-based initiatives, labor, cooperative and gender-based protest, struggles in opposition to land grabbing and mobilization of environmental science and ecological resistance. The core contribution of the volume is to theorize and to empirically assess the limits and contradictions that characterize these forms of resistance. In particular, the hegemonic role of the neoliberal ideology and the ways in which it has 'captured' processes of resistance are illustrated. Through the exploration of the tension between legitimate calls for emancipation and the dominant power of Neoliberalism, the book contributes to the ongoing debate on the strengths and limits of Neoliberalism in agri-food. It also engages critically with the outputs and potential outcomes of established and emerging resistance movements, practices, and concepts.

This volume explores capital mobility under globalization by studying some of its salient consequences in agriculture and food in North and South America. It probes the manner in which capital mobility alters the organization of the temporal and spatial dimensions that characterize the reproduction of capital. This is an important aspect of globalization because it reproduces the tension between the constant attempt of agents of capitalism to expand their scope of action and accelerate the time of the reproduction of capital, and the fixed nature of the institutions and measures that are employed to regulate capitalism. The analysis of this contradictory aspect of globalization is presented in seven cases that, while global in scope and social implications, are located in North and South America. Areas examined include the organization of labor in the exportation of grapes, fruit producing regions of Argentina and Brazil, the changing character of small town Ontario, migration and farmers in Mexico, and North Atlantic salmon. These original pieces of empirical research are contextualized by the introduction and common themes underscored in the concluding chapter.

This edited book contains salient papers presented at the XII World Congress of Rural Sociology held in South Korea in 2008. These papers have been selected for their quality and have undergone a peer review process. The rationale behind this book rests on the desire to share the wealth of research presented at the World Congress with interested individuals who could not attend the event and it reflects the empirical work and thinking characterizing contemporary rural sociology. As this sociological sub-discipline evolves along with society and the rural world, it appears of paramount importance to make available ground-breaking research to the international scientific community. Rural sociology is changing and this volume testifies of this change by documenting the introduction of new themes of research as well as the evolution of established ones. In this regard, it provides a unique and uniquely international view of the most recent advanced production in rural sociology. The volume consists of eighteen chapters representing original pieces of research and an introduction that frames them in the context of the evolution of the discipline.

This volume explores the contents, forms, and actors that characterize current opposition to the corporate neoliberal agri-food regime. Designed to generate a coherent, informed and updated analysis of resistance in agri-food, empirical and theoretical contributions analyze the relationship between expressions of the neoliberal corporate system and various projects of opposition. Contributions included in the volume probe established forms and rationales of resistance including civic agriculture, consumer- and community-based initiatives, labor, cooperative and gender-based protest, struggles in opposition to land grabbing and mobilization of environmental science and ecological resistance. The core contribution of the volume is to theorize and to empirically assess the limits and contradictions that characterize these forms of resistance. In particular, the hegemonic role of the neoliberal ideology and the ways in which it has 'captured' processes of resistance are illustrated. Through the exploration of the tension between legitimate calls for emancipation and the dominant power of Neoliberalism, the book contributes to the ongoing debate on the strengths and limits of Neoliberalism in agri-food. It also engages critically with the outputs and potential outcomes of established and emerging resistance movements, practices, and concepts.

State Capitalism under Neoliberalism analyzes state capitalism in agri-food under neoliberalism and investigates state-sponsored actions designed to counter the negative consequences of the implementation of free-market policies and strategies. In particular, it probes efforts of the Brazilian State to respond to the neoliberalization and corporatization of agriculture and food. Between 2003 and 2016, the left leaning Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores) governed Brazil, which claimed to support landless peasants, family farming, food sovereignty, and state regulation of the unwanted consequences of the evolution of free market capitalism. The contributors analyze these actions of the Brazilian state, stressing its accomplishments and limits, and argue that the emancipatory actions of the Brazilian state engendered a complex and contradictory set of results which show that state capitalism is a problematic solution to the problems generated by the global neoliberal regime.

This book addresses the relevance of geographical indication (GI) as a tool for local and socio-economic development and democratization of agri-food, with case studies from Asia, Europe and the Americas. A geographical indication is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. It provides not only a way for businesses to leverage the value of their geographically unique products, but also to inform and attract consumers. A highly contested topic, GI is praised as a tool for the revitalization of agricultural communities, while also criticized for being an instrument exploited by global corporate forces to promote their interests. There are concerns that the promotion of GI may hamper the establishment of democratic forms of development. The contributing authors address this topic by offering theoretically informed investigations of GI from around the world. The book includes case studies ranging from green tea in Japan, olive oil in Turkey and dried fish in Norway, to French wine and Mexican Mezcal. It also places GI in the broader context of the evolution and trends of agri-food under neoliberal globalization. The book will be of interest to researchers, policy makers and students in agri-food studies, sociology of food and agriculture, geography, agricultural and rural economics, environmental and intellectual property law, and social development.

Employing original fieldwork, historical analysis, and sociological theory, Sekine and Bonanno probe how Japan's food and agriculture sectors have been shaped by the global push toward privatization and corporate power, known in the social science literature as neoliberalism. They also examine related changes that have occurred after the triple disaster of March 2011 (the earthquake, tsunami, and meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor), noting that reconstruction policy has favored deregulation and the reduction of social welfare. Sekine and Bonanno stress the incompatibility of the requirements of neoliberalism with the structural and cultural conditions of Japanese agri-food. Local farmers' and fishermen's emphasis on community collective management of natural resources, they argue, clashes with neoliberalism's focus on individualism and competitiveness. The authors conclude by pointing out the resulting fundamental contradiction: The lack of recognition of this incompatibility allows the continuous implementation of market solutions to problems that originate in these very market mechanisms.

The 1973 Marine Mammal Protection Act at first appeared to be a major victory for environmentalists. It banned the use of oversized fishing nets in an attempt to save thousands of dolphins killed each year in tuna harvests. But hampered by exemptions, extensions, delays, and quotas, MMPA has instead created international turmoil in the tuna industry while still allowing some 20,000 dolphin deaths each year.

In this revealing book, Alessandro Bonanno and Douglas Constance use the tuna-dolphin controversy to explore the rapidly increasing effects of globalization on agricultural and food production. Illustrating how private industries, political institutions, national economies, and social movements have been swept into a global arena, they reach some intriguing and important conclusions about the complex and sometimes bewildering future of industry and the environment.

Analyzing the controversy's outcome, they show how relatively small groups can, with effective organization, pass legislation that fundamentally changes the way corporations do business. The globalization that often results, they contend, can have wide-reaching consequences-many of them unintended and unpredictable. Following passage of MMPA, U.S. tuna processors turned to foreign suppliers of "dolphin-safe" tuna while U.S. tuna fishing corporations deserted the U.S. market-circumventing MMPA altogether. Bilateral international agreements, GATT, NAFTA, and the U.S. federal courts have intervened in the chaos and have been challenged from all sides-from the Bush Administration to Bumble Bee Tuna, from Greenpeace to the European Economic Community.

Through it all, independent owners of fishing boats have been forced out of business, U.S. processing jobs have moved overseas, and environmentalists have continued their dolphin campaign. Even those who appear to be benefiting may not be, the authors demonstrate. Despite increased opportunities for some foreign labor forces, the weakest segments-especially in developing countries-continue to be exploited.

Stressing the limits that individual nations face in the current socio-economic climate and the conflicting agendas of a variety of labor and environmental movements, Bonanno and Constance argue that the regulatory ability of any national government--even one with strong society support--must be rethought and redefined.

The Chinese gooseberry was a minor fruit until New Zealanders, tagging it with a catchier name, began an aggressive global marketing campaign. Soon, transplanted to Italy, France, Spain, Chile, and California, the fuzzy little fruit with the bright green interior was known the world round and the kiwi production war was on.

Globalization of food is not a new phenomenon. Columbus and his contemporaries helped open worldwide trade routes for the distribution of all types of goods. Yet over the last two decades, globalization has completely revolutionized the commercial production and marketing of kiwifruit and countless other consumer goods.

Combining current theory on globalization with revealing case studies, the authors of this insightful collection tackle fundamental questions about the changing agricultural and food system in the era of ConAgra and other large transnational corporations. They look at the structure and operations of these new corporate giants, the state's influence in the global system, innovations in scientific research and technology, the roles of producers and consumers, and regional development. In the process, they take a look at why the winners and losers--countries, regions and even ethnic groups that ebb and flow within a vacillating global system--are constantly changing.

Without question, globalization has become a hotly contested topic, as evidenced by the recent NAFTA debates and by a growing body of critical literature produced by economists, sociologists, historians, and geographers. The authors of From Columbus to ConAgra, writing at the cutting edge of these debates, suggest an emerging consensus to guide future research. Globalization, they conclude, will likely continue its expansion within the context of a new multinational division of labor that may drastically alter the main axes of international power. In an increasingly interdependent world, such shifts will affect life in every society and, for that reason, must be better understood. This book offers an important first step toward that goal.

The economic and social outcomes of mid-twentieth-century Fordist capitalism were characterized by a decrease in the significance of distance and a shift in the dynamic of time. This "time-space compression" is one of the defining components of contemporary globalization. In their latest collaboration, Alessandro Bonanno and Douglas Constance provide an in-depth analysis of the origins and nature of globalization using the context of the agro-food sector, one of the most globalized socioeconomic sectors in the world.

Breaking from widely used methodologies in the study of globalization, Bonanno and Constance argue that the shifting dynamic of space and time has created a new capitalism that is qualitatively different from capitalism inspired by patterns of international relations established throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The book provides an extensive and original review of existing literature and is centered on eight specific case studies. Through the analysis of these "stories of globalization," the authors examine how the origins of and interactions between transnational corporations, groups that resist these organizations, and the state have given birth to a contemporary understanding of globalization. They use this new understanding to analyze globalization as a contested terrain in which the power of transnational corporations is affected by mounting opposition and internal contradictions.

The economic and social outcomes of mid-twentieth-century Fordist capitalism were characterized by a decrease in the significance of distance and a shift in the dynamic of time. This "time-space compression" is one of the defining components of contemporary globalization. In their latest collaboration, Alessandro Bonanno and Douglas Constance provide an in-depth analysis of the origins and nature of globalization using the context of the agro-food sector, one of the most globalized socioeconomic sectors in the world.

Breaking from widely used methodologies in the study of globalization, Bonanno and Constance argue that the shifting dynamic of space and time has created a new capitalism that is qualitatively different from capitalism inspired by patterns of international relations established throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The book provides an extensive and original review of existing literature and is centered on eight specific case studies. Through the analysis of these "stories of globalization," the authors examine how the origins of and interactions between transnational corporations, groups that resist these organizations, and the state have given birth to a contemporary understanding of globalization. They use this new understanding to analyze globalization as a contested terrain in which the power of transnational corporations is affected by mounting opposition and internal contradictions.