The rise of China has provoked changes in global geopolitics, deeply
influencing the global econo... more The rise of China has provoked changes in global geopolitics, deeply influencing the global economy and trade relations. Of particular importance for agrarian change is China’s increased demand for (agro) commodities which has led to new partnerships abroad in order to secure natural resource access. This paper analyses the increasing economic and political relations between China and Latin America and raises questions concerning new trajectories of agrarian change and resource access, asking whether, how and to what extent a new consensus has emerged in reaction to the Washington Consensus which ushered in neoliberal policies to the region from the 1970s onward.
— The expansion of Bolivia's agricultural frontier fueled by the development of a soy complex has... more — The expansion of Bolivia's agricultural frontier fueled by the development of a soy complex has become part of the state's three-pronged ''neo " extractivist development model based on minerals, hydrocarbons, and soybeans. While Bolivia has a long history of mineral and natural gas extraction, the agricultural sector's highly mechanized and capital-intensive character are relatively new developments. Referred to here as ''agrarian extractivism " this paper reveals the very extractive nature of soybean production in Bolivia based on four interlinked dimensions: (1) large volumes of materials extracted destined for export with little or no processing; (2) value-chain concentration and sectoral disarticulation (3) high intensity of environmental degradation; and (4) the deterioration of labor opportunities and/or conditions. It is argued here that ''agrarian extractivism " is a politically and analytically useful concept for understanding new dynamics and trajectories of agrarian change as it reveals the very extractive nature of capitalist agriculture, particularly in the context of contemporary land grabbing, flex crops, and the increasingly corporatized agro-food system. Rather than a form of industrial agricultural development which implies value-added processing, sectoral linkages, and employment generation, agrarian extractivism challenges this dominant discourse, revealing the various dimensions of social, economic and environmental exploitation and its negative implications for rural development.
A B S T R A C T The development of an economically viable biofuel industry rests on strong state ... more A B S T R A C T The development of an economically viable biofuel industry rests on strong state subsidies for production and processing, creation of markets through government procurement, fuel-blending mandates, price controls, as well as foreign trade tariffs and quotas, and multiple interventions in agricultural, ecological, and other regulations. We use an approach grounded in agrarian political economy to critically analyze the literature on how biofuel policies interact with broader production, trade, and agro-ecological processes. We focus on policies involving the most prominent crops in the places where biofuel production has advanced the most (i.e. USA, Brazil, and the EU), but also extend analysis to their relations with broader transformations in production, commercial, and even governance practices around the world. We investigate the political and economic interests driving biofuel policies, and how these set the terms in which state interventions and policies are conceived and implemented. We find that these are not developed and implemented according to environmental or inclusive pro-poor development purposes, but according to state interests in energy security and its intersection with a tense alliance between corporate sectors, rendering many policy mechanisms ineffective or even outright counterproductive to effectively facilitate more socially and environmentally sustainable energy production and agricultural practices.
The concept of food sovereignty has been enshrined in the constitutions of a number of countries ... more The concept of food sovereignty has been enshrined in the constitutions of a number of countries around the world without any clear consensus around what state-sponsored ‘food sovereignty’ might entail. At the forefront of this movement are the countries of the so-called ‘pink tide’ of Latin America – chiefly Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. This paper examines how state commitments to food sovereignty have been put into practice in these three countries, asking if and how efforts by the state contribute to significant transformation or if they simply serve the political purposes of elites. Understanding the state as a complex arena of class struggle, we suggest that state efforts around food sovereignty open up new political spaces in an ongoing struggle around control over food systems at different scales. Embedded in food sovereignty is a contradictory notion of sovereignty, requiring simultaneously a strong developmentalist state and the redistribution of power to facilitate direct control over food systems in ways that may threaten the state. State-society relations, particularly across scales, are therefore a central problematic of food sovereignty projects.
In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted... more In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted for their multiple uses in different commodity markets and as alternatives to fossil fuel equivalents (i.e. as a source of biofuel, bioelectricity and bioplastic). These commodities are also produced on an increasingly flexible basis, as sugarcane mills respond to price signals and switch between different crop uses. This paper offers a preliminary exploration into the politics of this latest development in the capitalist industrialization of agriculture. It does so by focusing primarily on flexing in Brazil and highlighting the role of the state in both creating markets for non-food products that sugarcane mills can now switch between and managing the tensions that arise from this. These tensions have concerned consumer prices for fuel, control of distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?
The concept of food sovereignty has been enshrined in the constitutions of a number of countries ... more The concept of food sovereignty has been enshrined in the constitutions of a number of countries around the world without any clear consensus around what state-sponsored ‘food sovereignty’ might entail. At the forefront of this movement are the countries of the so-called ‘pink tide’ of Latin America – chiefly Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. This paper examines how state commitments to food sovereignty have been put into practice in these three countries, asking if and how efforts by the state contribute to significant transformation or if they simply serve the political purposes of elites. Understanding the state as a complex arena of class struggle, we suggest that state efforts around food sovereignty open up new political spaces in an ongoing struggle around control over food systems at different scales. Embedded in food sovereignty is a contradictory notion of sovereignty, requiring simultaneously a strong developmentalist state and the redistribution of power to facilitate direct control over food systems in ways that may threaten the state. State-society relations, particularly across scales, are therefore a central problematic of food sovereignty projects.
A significant transition is underway in Bolivia where both domestic and foreign capital are monop... more A significant transition is underway in Bolivia where both domestic and foreign capital are monopolizing commercial agriculture and leading a highly mechanized, capital intensive production model which has considerably diminished the need for labour. This paper explores mechanisms and processes of ‘productive exclusion’ in the soy producing zones of Santa Cruz in relation to the expansion, concentration and mechanization of the ‘soy complex’. We provide an analysis of how the agrarian structure has developed since soy was adopted – from ‘putting land into production’ to ‘expanding the agricultural frontier’ and ‘controlling the agro-industrial chain’. We explore how and the extent to which the penetration of new capital is leading to new processes of agrarian change which exclude the rural majority from accessing the means of production. While a process of ‘foreignization’ of land began to take shape in the early 1990s, new processes of capital accumulation are eroding the ability of small farmers to engage in productive activity, potentially leading to ‘surplus’ populations no longer needed for capital accumulation.
In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted... more In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted for their multiple uses in different commodity markets and as alternatives to fossil fuel equivalents (i.e. as a source of biofuel, bioelectricity and bioplastic). These commodities are also produced on an increasingly flexible basis, as sugarcane mills respond to price signals and switch between different crop uses. This paper offers a preliminary exploration into the politics of this latest development in the capitalist industrialization of agriculture. It does so by focusing primarily on flexing in Brazil and highlighting the role of the state in both creating markets for non-food products that sugarcane mills can now switch between and managing the tensions that arise from this. These tensions have concerned consumer prices for fuel, control of distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?
The rise of China has provoked changes in global geopolitics, deeply
influencing the global econo... more The rise of China has provoked changes in global geopolitics, deeply influencing the global economy and trade relations. Of particular importance for agrarian change is China’s increased demand for (agro) commodities which has led to new partnerships abroad in order to secure natural resource access. This paper analyses the increasing economic and political relations between China and Latin America and raises questions concerning new trajectories of agrarian change and resource access, asking whether, how and to what extent a new consensus has emerged in reaction to the Washington Consensus which ushered in neoliberal policies to the region from the 1970s onward.
— The expansion of Bolivia's agricultural frontier fueled by the development of a soy complex has... more — The expansion of Bolivia's agricultural frontier fueled by the development of a soy complex has become part of the state's three-pronged ''neo " extractivist development model based on minerals, hydrocarbons, and soybeans. While Bolivia has a long history of mineral and natural gas extraction, the agricultural sector's highly mechanized and capital-intensive character are relatively new developments. Referred to here as ''agrarian extractivism " this paper reveals the very extractive nature of soybean production in Bolivia based on four interlinked dimensions: (1) large volumes of materials extracted destined for export with little or no processing; (2) value-chain concentration and sectoral disarticulation (3) high intensity of environmental degradation; and (4) the deterioration of labor opportunities and/or conditions. It is argued here that ''agrarian extractivism " is a politically and analytically useful concept for understanding new dynamics and trajectories of agrarian change as it reveals the very extractive nature of capitalist agriculture, particularly in the context of contemporary land grabbing, flex crops, and the increasingly corporatized agro-food system. Rather than a form of industrial agricultural development which implies value-added processing, sectoral linkages, and employment generation, agrarian extractivism challenges this dominant discourse, revealing the various dimensions of social, economic and environmental exploitation and its negative implications for rural development.
A B S T R A C T The development of an economically viable biofuel industry rests on strong state ... more A B S T R A C T The development of an economically viable biofuel industry rests on strong state subsidies for production and processing, creation of markets through government procurement, fuel-blending mandates, price controls, as well as foreign trade tariffs and quotas, and multiple interventions in agricultural, ecological, and other regulations. We use an approach grounded in agrarian political economy to critically analyze the literature on how biofuel policies interact with broader production, trade, and agro-ecological processes. We focus on policies involving the most prominent crops in the places where biofuel production has advanced the most (i.e. USA, Brazil, and the EU), but also extend analysis to their relations with broader transformations in production, commercial, and even governance practices around the world. We investigate the political and economic interests driving biofuel policies, and how these set the terms in which state interventions and policies are conceived and implemented. We find that these are not developed and implemented according to environmental or inclusive pro-poor development purposes, but according to state interests in energy security and its intersection with a tense alliance between corporate sectors, rendering many policy mechanisms ineffective or even outright counterproductive to effectively facilitate more socially and environmentally sustainable energy production and agricultural practices.
The concept of food sovereignty has been enshrined in the constitutions of a number of countries ... more The concept of food sovereignty has been enshrined in the constitutions of a number of countries around the world without any clear consensus around what state-sponsored ‘food sovereignty’ might entail. At the forefront of this movement are the countries of the so-called ‘pink tide’ of Latin America – chiefly Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. This paper examines how state commitments to food sovereignty have been put into practice in these three countries, asking if and how efforts by the state contribute to significant transformation or if they simply serve the political purposes of elites. Understanding the state as a complex arena of class struggle, we suggest that state efforts around food sovereignty open up new political spaces in an ongoing struggle around control over food systems at different scales. Embedded in food sovereignty is a contradictory notion of sovereignty, requiring simultaneously a strong developmentalist state and the redistribution of power to facilitate direct control over food systems in ways that may threaten the state. State-society relations, particularly across scales, are therefore a central problematic of food sovereignty projects.
In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted... more In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted for their multiple uses in different commodity markets and as alternatives to fossil fuel equivalents (i.e. as a source of biofuel, bioelectricity and bioplastic). These commodities are also produced on an increasingly flexible basis, as sugarcane mills respond to price signals and switch between different crop uses. This paper offers a preliminary exploration into the politics of this latest development in the capitalist industrialization of agriculture. It does so by focusing primarily on flexing in Brazil and highlighting the role of the state in both creating markets for non-food products that sugarcane mills can now switch between and managing the tensions that arise from this. These tensions have concerned consumer prices for fuel, control of distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?
The concept of food sovereignty has been enshrined in the constitutions of a number of countries ... more The concept of food sovereignty has been enshrined in the constitutions of a number of countries around the world without any clear consensus around what state-sponsored ‘food sovereignty’ might entail. At the forefront of this movement are the countries of the so-called ‘pink tide’ of Latin America – chiefly Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. This paper examines how state commitments to food sovereignty have been put into practice in these three countries, asking if and how efforts by the state contribute to significant transformation or if they simply serve the political purposes of elites. Understanding the state as a complex arena of class struggle, we suggest that state efforts around food sovereignty open up new political spaces in an ongoing struggle around control over food systems at different scales. Embedded in food sovereignty is a contradictory notion of sovereignty, requiring simultaneously a strong developmentalist state and the redistribution of power to facilitate direct control over food systems in ways that may threaten the state. State-society relations, particularly across scales, are therefore a central problematic of food sovereignty projects.
A significant transition is underway in Bolivia where both domestic and foreign capital are monop... more A significant transition is underway in Bolivia where both domestic and foreign capital are monopolizing commercial agriculture and leading a highly mechanized, capital intensive production model which has considerably diminished the need for labour. This paper explores mechanisms and processes of ‘productive exclusion’ in the soy producing zones of Santa Cruz in relation to the expansion, concentration and mechanization of the ‘soy complex’. We provide an analysis of how the agrarian structure has developed since soy was adopted – from ‘putting land into production’ to ‘expanding the agricultural frontier’ and ‘controlling the agro-industrial chain’. We explore how and the extent to which the penetration of new capital is leading to new processes of agrarian change which exclude the rural majority from accessing the means of production. While a process of ‘foreignization’ of land began to take shape in the early 1990s, new processes of capital accumulation are eroding the ability of small farmers to engage in productive activity, potentially leading to ‘surplus’ populations no longer needed for capital accumulation.
In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted... more In the context of rising resource demand, agricultural crops such as sugarcane are being promoted for their multiple uses in different commodity markets and as alternatives to fossil fuel equivalents (i.e. as a source of biofuel, bioelectricity and bioplastic). These commodities are also produced on an increasingly flexible basis, as sugarcane mills respond to price signals and switch between different crop uses. This paper offers a preliminary exploration into the politics of this latest development in the capitalist industrialization of agriculture. It does so by focusing primarily on flexing in Brazil and highlighting the role of the state in both creating markets for non-food products that sugarcane mills can now switch between and managing the tensions that arise from this. These tensions have concerned consumer prices for fuel, control of distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?
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Papers by Ben McKay
influencing the global economy and trade relations. Of particular
importance for agrarian change is China’s increased demand for (agro)
commodities which has led to new partnerships abroad in order to
secure natural resource access. This paper analyses the increasing
economic and political relations between China and Latin America
and raises questions concerning new trajectories of agrarian change
and resource access, asking whether, how and to what extent a new
consensus has emerged in reaction to the Washington Consensus
which ushered in neoliberal policies to the region from the 1970s
onward.
distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between
agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?
‘food sovereignty’ might entail. At the forefront of this movement are the countries of the so-called ‘pink tide’ of Latin America – chiefly Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. This paper examines how state commitments to food sovereignty have been put into practice in these three countries, asking if and how efforts by the state contribute to significant transformation or if they simply serve the political purposes of elites. Understanding the state as a complex arena of class struggle, we suggest that state efforts around food sovereignty open up new political spaces in an ongoing struggle around control over food systems at different scales. Embedded in food sovereignty is a contradictory notion of sovereignty, requiring simultaneously a strong developmentalist state and the redistribution of power to facilitate direct control over
food systems in ways that may threaten the state. State-society relations, particularly across scales, are therefore a central problematic of food sovereignty projects.
production model which has considerably diminished the need for labour. This paper explores mechanisms and processes of ‘productive exclusion’ in the soy producing zones of Santa Cruz in relation to the expansion, concentration and mechanization of the ‘soy complex’. We provide an analysis of how the agrarian
structure has developed since soy was adopted – from ‘putting land into production’ to ‘expanding the agricultural frontier’ and ‘controlling the agro-industrial chain’. We explore how and the extent to which the penetration of new capital is leading to new
processes of agrarian change which exclude the rural majority from accessing the means of production. While a process of ‘foreignization’ of land began to take shape in the early 1990s, new processes of capital accumulation are eroding the ability of
small farmers to engage in productive activity, potentially leading to ‘surplus’ populations no longer needed for capital accumulation.
influencing the global economy and trade relations. Of particular
importance for agrarian change is China’s increased demand for (agro)
commodities which has led to new partnerships abroad in order to
secure natural resource access. This paper analyses the increasing
economic and political relations between China and Latin America
and raises questions concerning new trajectories of agrarian change
and resource access, asking whether, how and to what extent a new
consensus has emerged in reaction to the Washington Consensus
which ushered in neoliberal policies to the region from the 1970s
onward.
distribution infrastructure and conditions of land conversion, each prompting political interventions by the state. The paper then suggests how this same process is taking place, albeit shaped by different contexts, in Southern Africa and Cambodia. It concludes with some key questions for further research: is flexing eroding the distinction between crop regimes? How do primary processors decide what their product mix will be? And on what basis do state actors support flexing between
agricultural products and investments in so-called bio-refineries?
‘food sovereignty’ might entail. At the forefront of this movement are the countries of the so-called ‘pink tide’ of Latin America – chiefly Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. This paper examines how state commitments to food sovereignty have been put into practice in these three countries, asking if and how efforts by the state contribute to significant transformation or if they simply serve the political purposes of elites. Understanding the state as a complex arena of class struggle, we suggest that state efforts around food sovereignty open up new political spaces in an ongoing struggle around control over food systems at different scales. Embedded in food sovereignty is a contradictory notion of sovereignty, requiring simultaneously a strong developmentalist state and the redistribution of power to facilitate direct control over
food systems in ways that may threaten the state. State-society relations, particularly across scales, are therefore a central problematic of food sovereignty projects.
production model which has considerably diminished the need for labour. This paper explores mechanisms and processes of ‘productive exclusion’ in the soy producing zones of Santa Cruz in relation to the expansion, concentration and mechanization of the ‘soy complex’. We provide an analysis of how the agrarian
structure has developed since soy was adopted – from ‘putting land into production’ to ‘expanding the agricultural frontier’ and ‘controlling the agro-industrial chain’. We explore how and the extent to which the penetration of new capital is leading to new
processes of agrarian change which exclude the rural majority from accessing the means of production. While a process of ‘foreignization’ of land began to take shape in the early 1990s, new processes of capital accumulation are eroding the ability of
small farmers to engage in productive activity, potentially leading to ‘surplus’ populations no longer needed for capital accumulation.