The Future of Food and Challenges for Agriculture in the 21st Century

Within the diversity of production models, how is food production valued (or not)? Is coexistence between the peasant and agribusiness models feasible? Is coexistence between artisanal fishing and industrial aquaculture feasible? What technologies are needed to expand which models and who controls/wins/loses in this expansion? Whose work is invisible, informal and unpaid? What tensions exist between the wellbeing of food producers and other sectors of society?

Inviting analysis of class, race and gender, this axis explores the dynamics of power, evaluating different production models, class formation, processes of accumulation and the relationships between them. In addition, it will try to offer concrete insights into how different systems function and value food producers.

The ecological crisis and the range of responses to climate change urge us to think about the environmental consequences related to food production and global food security. In this context we see several proposals from the “blue carbon” to agroecology.

Among the different forms of production, consumption and control over natural resources, we ask how and to what extent each works with nature? Changing ecological realities reveal new political strategic alliances, for example between environmental movements, farmers and fishers.

What tensions exist in these alliances and what are the dynamics of convergence? How are the politics of climate change animated and used by different actors at different scales and with what different motivations? What forms of production, consumption and technologies represent mitigation strategies to climate change, and why? How do the different geographic and/or geo‐ strategic realities shape these proposals to mitigate climate change?

Given the global dimension of the current food system and in the context of discussions on the role of trade and market access in building food sovereignty: How do we localize food systems? What are the impacts of different models of pricing? What imbalances are created by health and safety regulations? How is local decision making power protected in the face of global trade agreements (TTIP, CETA, TTP, etc.) and global agribusiness corporations?

And if the idea is to support local systems and prioritize the rights of local communities, how do we respond to the needs of new migratory phenomena? What role do farmworkers in industrial food companies have in building food sovereignty? What do peasant markets and economies look like?

In the context of land, water and ocean grabbing, financialization and speculation, how is local control over natural resources maintained or lost? What effects have policies related to land, seeds and water had? What other factors/threats affect the dynamics of natural resource control (property regimes, gender, legal systems, social norms, geography, market insertion)?

How do the dynamics of control change according to different models of production? What are the mechanisms of access and control? What impact do the international Tenure or Small Scale Fisheries Guidelines have at the local level? What alternatives exist in order to regain control of land, water or seeds, after they have been lost and how do they work?

How do we ensure food access for all people? While recognizing the right to food is a very important tool, to take it seriously and make it effective poses serious challenges in a context of increasing population and changing dietary habits resulting from the incorporation of millions of people into the capitalist economy.

This has had significant consequences from production and processing to distribution and consumption of food.
‘Real’ food in this context is a concept with fewer and fewer points of reference and thus has altered the global collective imagination.

In this situation, how do we avoid the problems of obesity and malnutrition? What policy tools and alternative projects exist to address these issues? How are issues of consumption being brought into closer connection with dynamics of production at the local level?

How are people making organic products accessible to all, rather than only the elite, without lowering producers’ salaries? What are the political dimensions of consumption, health and nutrition that help link these areas with the movements for food sovereignty? How do we channel the politics of consumption into a strategic proposal for economic and social development at a national level?

Looking towards the future means paying attention not only to new ideas and models but also to education so that the next generation is able to play an active role in building alternatives. Faced with various processes of feminization of the agricultural world and debates about depeasantization or peasantisation, with whom and how are the necessary knowledge and skills developed to create an alternative future?

In this thematic axis we invite perspectives on processes of political formation, education or ways of incorporating new people into farming and fishing. However we will also discuss how to empower people already within the movement for food sovereignty:

Who are the new farmers? What training processes are needed to ensure generational turnover?; How are teaching methodologies scaled up while also paying attention to local needs and specific contextual factors?; Who plays what role in ensuring generational turnover? (Multilateral agencies, national institutions, public policies, different national governments that are more or less supportive of food sovereignty); What role does the University play? (relationship between researchers and peasant or fisher movements); What is the role of allies in this process and how do they relate to the peasant movement?; What can we learn from historical and global perspectives in order to support local work in the future?