Vicissitudes in Production and Demand
Policy Changes from the Perspectives of Rice Farmers and Consumers Organizations
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nicole Freiner
In the past several years, within the context of the global food trade and international agreements on agriculture, the Japanese government has performed a nearly wholesale shift in its policies toward rice growers and farmers. These changes, though protested by both farmers and consumers are likely to open Japanese agriculture to increasing corporate ownership and genetically modified foods. Alongside these policies changes, the Japanese diet or washoku has been included on the list of Intangible World Cultural Heritages and the Japanese government is formulating a policy response that puts rice at the core of the Japanese diet in its nutrition and trade policy. This paper presents research on these current policy changes from the perspectives of rice farmers and consumers organizations that was conducted in Japan by the author.
Land Use Change and Food Demand Impacts on Biodiversity in South America towards 2050
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Magdalena Jensen
The ability of society to feed a growing population in the future depends critically on its capacity to produce enough food to supply the growing food demand that is happening in the context of climate change and in an environment that has already surpassed some of its planetary boundaries. The main objective of this research is to analyse the possible impacts on the environment of a growing aggregated food demand and land use change in South America towards the middle of the XXI century. Among the main methods used in this study are a literature review, econometric demand method, and analysis of spatially explicit data sets comprising future land use change and biodiversity value based in different socioeconomic scenarios. Food demand is expected to increase in the region for all socioeconomic scenarios until 2050 driven by population growth and a higher income base. Aggregated food demand could increase between 50% and almost a doubling of the current demand towards the middle of this century. To produce enough food to supply the growing demand it is possible expand arable lands, which could come at a high biodiversity cost. Some of the areas characterized by a potential future conflict among agriculture and biodiversity are the located in the tropical Andes, south-western Brazil and in the southern part of the continent.
Emerging Ideas and Practices of Social and Environmental Sustainability in Indigenous Organic Coffee Production
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Consuelo Guayara Sanchez
In this paper, I examine how distinctly indigenous organic producers think about the human-nature relationship across geographical scales and how these ideas are intertwined with practices of social and environmental care. Such environmental practices are promoted by a local association for indigenous and small producers to whom they belong, and supported by organic certification for international markets. While dealing with persistent scarcity of rural labor through a potentially non-profit approach, crop diversification provides a strategy for economic sustainability. I carried out field research in summer 2018, including on-site visits, participant observation, and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with indigenous leaders and members of this Colombian association.
