Food for the Few
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Edited by:
Gerardo Otero
About this book
Recent decades have seen tremendous changes in Latin America's agricultural sector, resulting from a broad program of liberalization instigated under pressure from the United States, the IMF, and the World Bank. Tariffs have been lifted, agricultural markets have been opened and privatized, land reform policies have been restricted or eliminated, and the perspective has shifted radically toward exportation rather than toward the goal of feeding local citizens. Examining the impact of these transformations, the contributors to Food for the Few: Neoliberal Globalism and Biotechnology in Latin America paint a somber portrait, describing local peasant farmers who have been made responsible for protecting impossibly vast areas of biodiversity, or are forced to specialize in one genetically modified crop, or who become low-wage workers within a capitalized farm complex. Using dozens of examples such as these, the deleterious consequences are surveyed from the perspectives of experts in diverse fields, including anthropology, economics, geography, political science, and sociology.
From Kathy McAfee's "Exporting Crop Biotechnology: The Myth of Molecular Miracles," to Liz Fitting's "Importing Corn, Exporting Labor: The Neoliberal Corn Regime, GMOs, and the Erosion of Mexican Biodiversity," Food for the Few balances disturbing findings with hopeful assessments of emerging grassroots alternatives. Surveying not only the Latin American conditions that led to bankruptcy for countless farmers but also the North's practices, such as the heavy subsidies implemented to protect North American farmers, these essays represent a comprehensive, keenly informed response to a pivotal global crisis.
Author / Editor information
Gerardo Otero is Professor of Sociology and Latin American Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
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Topics
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Frontmatter
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Contents
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Acknowledgments
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Introduction
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1. Neoliberal Globalism and the Biotechnology Revolution: Economic and Historical Context
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2. Latin American Agriculture, Food, and Biotechnology: Temperate Dietary Pattern Adoption and Unsustainability
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3. Exporting Crop Biotechnology: The Myth of Molecular Miracles
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4. Biosafety Regulation and Global Governance: The Problem of Absentee Expertise in Latin America
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5. Unnatural Growth: The Political Economy of Biotechnology in Mexico
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6. Importing Corn, Exporting Labor: The Neoliberal Corn Regime, GMOs, and the Erosion of Mexican Biodiversity
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7. Political Economy of Agricultural Biotechnology in North America: The Case of rBST in La Laguna, Mexico
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8. Genetically Modifi ed Soybeans and the Crisis of Argentina’s Agriculture Model
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9. Brazilian Biotechnology Governance: Consensus and Confl ict over Genetically Modifi ed Crops
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10. Brazilian Farmers at a Crossroads: Biotech Industrialization of Agriculture or New Alternatives for Family Farmers?
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11. Social Movements and Techno-Democracy: Reclaiming the Genetic Commons
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12. Conclusion: Food for the Few?
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About the Contributors
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Index
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