Grassroots relational approaches to agricultural transformation in Latin America

Recent emphasis on market-based mechanisms as the key to solving sustainability challenges has left scholars and activists wringing their hands. This frustration and sense of urgency has been particularly poignant in the issues surrounding food production and land-use change. While creative approach...

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Main Authors: Karen E. Allen, Stefan Ortiz-Przychodzka, Marcondes G. Coelho-Junior, Thora Herrmann, Maggie Atchley, Felipe Benra, Vanessa Chavez, Eduardo Darvin, Julia McCabe, Laura Nahuelhual, Camila Horiye Rodrigues, Barbara Muraca
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Ecosystems and People
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26395916.2024.2390470
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author Karen E. Allen
Stefan Ortiz-Przychodzka
Marcondes G. Coelho-Junior
Thora Herrmann
Maggie Atchley
Felipe Benra
Vanessa Chavez
Eduardo Darvin
Julia McCabe
Laura Nahuelhual
Camila Horiye Rodrigues
Barbara Muraca
author_facet Karen E. Allen
Stefan Ortiz-Przychodzka
Marcondes G. Coelho-Junior
Thora Herrmann
Maggie Atchley
Felipe Benra
Vanessa Chavez
Eduardo Darvin
Julia McCabe
Laura Nahuelhual
Camila Horiye Rodrigues
Barbara Muraca
author_sort Karen E. Allen
collection DOAJ
description Recent emphasis on market-based mechanisms as the key to solving sustainability challenges has left scholars and activists wringing their hands. This frustration and sense of urgency has been particularly poignant in the issues surrounding food production and land-use change. While creative approaches to promoting sustainable land-uses have abounded, intensive agricultural systems persist as a major cause of biodiversity loss. Mounting evidence indicates that a business-as-usual approach to encouraging sustainable food production rests on erroneous assumptions about human value systems and their link to food and land, often resulting in perverse and/or inadequate outcomes. The relational turn arrives onto this scene, revisiting central questions about how values inform action and how policy can leverage values for more sustainable and equitable solutions. We contribute to this discussion through sharing case studies of grassroots sustainable agricultural movements in Latin America. In each, we explore how relational values are linked to transformative action, and how this intersects with or challenges relevant institutions and political structures. Through this analysis, we illustrate the presence of the relational turn within these movements, while questioning whether existing institutions are prepared to embrace a relational approach to policy and norms. Instead, we suggest that the relational turn calls for a more radical transformation of existing institutions than that embraced by most policy makers, and that this central challenge will persist in any attempt to scale up sustainable ‘local’ movements to affect global change.
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spelling doaj-art-57c5789e53c04d43b7d7b67324da522d2025-08-20T03:22:00ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEcosystems and People2639-59082639-59162024-12-0120110.1080/26395916.2024.2390470Grassroots relational approaches to agricultural transformation in Latin AmericaKaren E. Allen0Stefan Ortiz-Przychodzka1Marcondes G. Coelho-Junior2Thora Herrmann3Maggie Atchley4Felipe Benra5Vanessa Chavez6Eduardo Darvin7Julia McCabe8Laura Nahuelhual9Camila Horiye Rodrigues10Barbara Muraca11Department of Earth, Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC, USASocial-Ecological Systems Institute, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, GermanyGraduate Program in Environmental and Forest Sciences, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica, BrazilBiodiverse Anthropocenes, History, Culture, and Communication Studies, Research Unit, Faculty of Humanities, University of Oulu, Oulu, FinlandDepartment of Earth, Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC, USASocial-Ecological Systems Institute, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, GermanyDepartment of Earth, Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC, USAInstituto Centro de Vida, Cuiabá, BrazilDepartment of Earth, Environmental and Sustainability Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC, USADepartment of Social Sciences, Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, ChileInstituto Centro de Vida, Cuiabá, BrazilDepartment of Philosophy and Environmental Studies Program, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USARecent emphasis on market-based mechanisms as the key to solving sustainability challenges has left scholars and activists wringing their hands. This frustration and sense of urgency has been particularly poignant in the issues surrounding food production and land-use change. While creative approaches to promoting sustainable land-uses have abounded, intensive agricultural systems persist as a major cause of biodiversity loss. Mounting evidence indicates that a business-as-usual approach to encouraging sustainable food production rests on erroneous assumptions about human value systems and their link to food and land, often resulting in perverse and/or inadequate outcomes. The relational turn arrives onto this scene, revisiting central questions about how values inform action and how policy can leverage values for more sustainable and equitable solutions. We contribute to this discussion through sharing case studies of grassroots sustainable agricultural movements in Latin America. In each, we explore how relational values are linked to transformative action, and how this intersects with or challenges relevant institutions and political structures. Through this analysis, we illustrate the presence of the relational turn within these movements, while questioning whether existing institutions are prepared to embrace a relational approach to policy and norms. Instead, we suggest that the relational turn calls for a more radical transformation of existing institutions than that embraced by most policy makers, and that this central challenge will persist in any attempt to scale up sustainable ‘local’ movements to affect global change.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26395916.2024.2390470Seb O’ConnorRelational valuesLatin Americasustainable agriculturesustainable developmentfood sovereignty
spellingShingle Karen E. Allen
Stefan Ortiz-Przychodzka
Marcondes G. Coelho-Junior
Thora Herrmann
Maggie Atchley
Felipe Benra
Vanessa Chavez
Eduardo Darvin
Julia McCabe
Laura Nahuelhual
Camila Horiye Rodrigues
Barbara Muraca
Grassroots relational approaches to agricultural transformation in Latin America
Ecosystems and People
Seb O’Connor
Relational values
Latin America
sustainable agriculture
sustainable development
food sovereignty
title Grassroots relational approaches to agricultural transformation in Latin America
title_full Grassroots relational approaches to agricultural transformation in Latin America
title_fullStr Grassroots relational approaches to agricultural transformation in Latin America
title_full_unstemmed Grassroots relational approaches to agricultural transformation in Latin America
title_short Grassroots relational approaches to agricultural transformation in Latin America
title_sort grassroots relational approaches to agricultural transformation in latin america
topic Seb O’Connor
Relational values
Latin America
sustainable agriculture
sustainable development
food sovereignty
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26395916.2024.2390470
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