What needs to change in the quest for food sovereignty? This book looks for answers
An academic volume examines how and why food production should be steered away from a current, failed model to one that stays close to natural processes.
It is no longer radical to state that the dominant way of producing food is doomed. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) acknowledges it, as do more and more governments. Agroecology, a way of producing food by staying close to natural processes, is being embraced as a more hopeful avenue. Yet views differ widely on what exactly it involves, because behind the innocuous term loom several power struggles.
It is these power struggles that have been explored in a recent academic volume on the subject, titled Food Sovereignty, Agroecology and Biocultural Diversity: Constructing and Contesting Knowledge. The book’s editor’s, Michel Pimbert, is a professor of Agroecology and Food Politics at Coventry University in the UK and although the book is quite clearly meant for an academic audience, it addresses issues that deserve wider debate and awareness. Pimbert’s accessibly-written introduction and concluding chapter do cater to a wider audience. However, the price paid for this accessibility is that the conclusion glosses over some of the power issues raised in the contributions.
About Post Author
