In the past several decades, the world has seen an expansion of agribusiness in the Global South where growers are smallholder farmers, who have shifted from largely self-sufficient agriculture to market-oriented agro-industry. This huge transformation, proliferated by agribusiness schemes such as contract farming and out-growers, is accompanied by ongoing land acquisition (De Schutter, 2011; Nanthavong et al, 2021; Williams et al, 2021), exclusion and dispossession of the rural poor (Watts, 1994; Wolford et al, 2013; Hall, 2015; Oliveira et al, 2021). Technology and cropping type changes have controversial impacts on the existing food production systems (Eaton and Shepherd, 2001; Singh, 2002). Class differentiation and imbalance labor relations remained unchanged (Singh, 2001; Raynolds, 2002; Singh, 2008; Li, 2011; Oya, 2012); while risk distributions become increasingly asymmetrical, and indebtedness and loss of control over production resources are yet addressed (Soullier and Mosutier, 2018; Martiniello et al, 2022). Local tensions and conflicts over production resources and resistance to inequalities (De Schutter, 2011; Hall, 2015; Hambloch, 2021) amidst the regulatory struggles of local governments coupled with the dominance of private actors (Zhang, 2012; Hall et al, 2017; Cole, 2022). Environmental conflicts, accelerated by agribusiness schemes (De Schutter, 2011; Hall, 2015; Martiniello et al, 2022), become pressing under global climate change. The existing expansion of agribusiness has raised questions about how we understand the future trend of agribusiness and its implications for agrarian life (De Schutter, 2011; Oya, 2012; Hall, 2015; Nino et al, 2021).
We welcome papers that explore different dimensions of agribusiness schemes and inherent problems including:
• Land deals and investments in land
• Geopolitical instability and food insecurity
• Technology diffusion
• Environmental conflicts
• Power relations
• Rural Finance
• Regulatory struggles
• Contract farming
• Debt and labor
• Sustainable supply chain initiatives
Organizers: Thuy Ho, Caitlyn Sears, & Poushali Bhattacharjee
Please submit abstracts to Thuy Ho at thuyho@iu.edu by 15 December 2023.
Modality: Hybrid