From railroad imperialism to neoliberal reprimarization : Lessons from regime-shifts in the Global Soybean Complex
Mempel, Finn (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Corbera, Esteve (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Geografia)
Rodríguez-Labajos, Beatriz (Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Barcelona School of Management)
Challies, Edward (University of Canterbury)

Date:	2023
Abstract:	Soybeans are ubiquitous in the global food system. As a major forest risk commodity, they are also at the heart of efforts to untangle the dynamics of land use change and associated impacts resulting from distant drivers. However, land system science has so far largely ignored the historically and socially embedded nature of these entanglements. This results in snapshot-like representations relying on neoclassical approaches to production and consumption. Here, we trace the evolution of the global soybean complex (GSC) since the late nineteenth century. We analyze how in the context of external developments soybeans have been channeled into different provisioning systems. This has occurred in a series of socio-ecological fixes, facilitated by socio-technological innovations and public sector interventions, motivated by different impediments to capital accumulation. Today, several emerging socio-technological practices promise to transform the GSC towards sustainability. We argue that the contemporary GSC inherits defining properties from the past, particularly the postwar strategy of using industrial animal farming to add value to surplus grains and oilseeds. The expanding GSC is therefore not merely a result of increasing demand, but rather the outcome of different provisioning systems' continued dependence on soybeans. Future transitions will depend on public interventions and the influence of vested interest in current socio-metabolic patterns.
Grants:	European Commission 801370 European Commission 765408 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000940-M
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Soybeans ; Sustainability transitions ; Socio-ecological fix ; Land system science ; Provisioning systems
Published in:	Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, Vol. 0, Núm. 0 (September 2023) , ISSN 2514-8494

DOI: 10.1177/25148486231201216

24 p, 740.8 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles