Food Sovereignty, Agro-Extractive Resilience, and Dietary Transformations during the Second and Third Food Regimes in Ecuador (1964-2007)

China is undergoing a marked transition in its diet and nutritional status patterns. This study determines the structural change in the impact of income on food consumption in China during 1989-93. Utilizing data from a longitudinal study of 3800 households in China evidence points to a shift in the relationship between income dietary structure and total nutrient intake at the macrolevel. Overall it is noted that the increase in income over time in the country coincided with a shift in the demand for inferior and normal food groups. In addition there was a pronounced increase in the income elasticity for more luxury foods during the specified period while less superior goods became more inferior over this 4-year span. Such an increase in income elasticities for total energy and for energy from fat suggest a worsening of the composition of the diet in ways that are linked to obesity and obesity-related diseases as incomes continue to rise. In view of this several implications for the formulation of future nutrition policies in China are cited.

Development scholars and practitioners are promoting food security, food sovereignty, and the localization of food systems to prepare for the projected negative impacts of climate change. The implementation of biodiverse homegardens is often seen as a way not only to localize food production but also as a strategy in alignment with a food sovereignty agenda. While much scholarship has characterized and critiqued food security and sovereignty conceptualizations, relatively little research has examined people’s lived experiences in order to test how such theoretical visions play out on the ground in farming communities. Based on a case study of four coffee cooperatives in northern Nicaragua, we examine a non-governmental organization (NGO)-supported project promoting food security and sovereignty through development of homegardens. We ask: To what extent are homegardens an effective strategy to reach food sovereignty? And, why may farmers be resistant to changing their food production and consumption strategies to embrace biodiverse homegardens when they improve food security? We discuss characteristics of agroecological homegardens, the distinctions between food security, food sovereignty and dominant discourses of development, the history of food sovereignty in Nicaragua, and farmer perspectives on homegarden implementation. Despite historic critiques, NGOs are poised to facilitate the transformation of food and agricultural development by employing counter development strategies, a necessary step if homegardens are to be successful in the long term. To conclude, we propose some strategies NGOs and communities might pursue to move forward with homegardens as a food sovereignty strategy. This research suggests that a food sovereignty approach still rooted in mainstream development models faces significant obstacles to moving beyond food security and into a farmer-led food sovereignty agenda.

The effect of dietary changes on the water and carbon footprints in China

Food sovereignty has evolved from a catch-cry opposing trade liberalisation to a concept adopted by broader constituencies - including food justice movements in the Global North - who share the view that the corporate food system is fundamentally undemocratic and destined to fail. Spanning issues including gender inequality, agroecology, land reform, genetic modification, intellectual property, biodiversity, urban agriculture and labour migration, the campaign for food sovereignty has emerged as a political project that talks to power. Recognition of food sovereignty as a condition for the full realisation of the right to food has elevated the concept in international human rights discourse while the mechanisms and institutions with the power to carry out the transformative changes to the corporate food regime that food sovereignty advocates demand are still wanting.

First paragraphs: Haroon Akram-Lodhi's Hungry for Change: Farmers, Food Justice and the Agrarian Question adds to the growing literature on food sovereignty and social movements from around the globe. The books Food Sovereignty in Canada: Creating Just and Sustainable Food Systems (2011) and Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community (2010), written by scholars and agrarian activists and edited by Hannah Wittman, Annette Aurelie Desmarais, and Nettie Wiebe, detail the origins of food sovereignty and analyze food regimes and food crises. The authors outline agrarian reforms from historical and contemporary perspectives and explain the relationships between food systems, energy, climate change, environment, and food regime restructuring. Through an examination of socio-economic and environmental consequences of the food system, the authors provide examples of peasant movements that are transforming relationships between food, markets, and local and global communities. Other recent books include Food Regimes and Agrarian Questions by Philip McMichael (2013), Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change by Henry Bernstein (2010), and Peasants and the Art of Farming: A Chayanovian Manifesto by Jan Douwe van der Ploeg (2013). These scholars focus on the structure and dynamics of peasant farms, production and labor, and consistent marginalization of peasants as result of liberalization and globalization. Such books as Food for Thought: A Multidisciplinary Discussion by Robert Stewart and Susan Korol (2012) and Food for Change: The Politics and Values of Social Movements by Jeff Pratt and Pete Luetchford (2013) seek to address food production, distribution, and food choices people make in order to show how important alternative food movements are in creating an economic system within which individuals know where, how, and by whom their food is produced. These influential authors address food sover­eignty issues from a systemic perspective to help their readers understand the complex relationships between agriculture, market, laws, and environment and their influences on each other both locally and on a global scale. Building on these and other books, Akram-Lodhi’s Hungry for Change puts a human face on agricultural development by exam­ining the socio-economic transformations in indi­vidual peasant farmers’ lives and the lives of their families as a segment of a bigger global picture. Akram-Lodhi’s approach is especially useful as an introduction for readers who wish to understand the devastating effects of the global food regimes on the lives of individuals, especially in the global South. Through personal accounts of peasant farmers, the author fills a niche in the literature by examining the process by which the world food system has become a capitalist enterprise in the hands of power holders, corporations, the IMF and World Bank, and privileged consumers in the North....

Food labeling can influence, sometimes facilitate, changes in consumer diets to support environmental sustainability and in response to climate change. However, a significant impediment to this dietary shift may arise from the consumers’ tendency to underestimate the environmental impact of their food choices and from their limited knowledge about sustainable certifications. These aspects are influenced by the characteristics and geographical affiliations of individuals. In such a context, the aim of this research has been to identify the main factors that drive the food purchasing frequency and the changes in food consumption associated with consumers’ concerns about climate change and interest in sustainable food certifications by comparing different food products and countries (Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, the USA, and China). A cross-country survey was conducted on 6500 consumers of various food products. The obtained mean scores were then compared, using generalized linear mixed-effect models, to evaluate the associations between the consumers’ food purchasing frequency, the importance of sustainable certifications, and changes in food consumption due to climate change concerns. Much of the variation in food consumption, purchasing behaviors, and interest in sustainable certifications was found to depend on such factors as age, gender, and country of origin. Indeed, Chinese consumers exhibited a heightened interest in sustainable food certifications, yet their consumption scores for all food products overall were higher. Conversely, adult and elderly Danish consumers demonstrated a decrease in the consumption of cheeses, meat, fruits, and vegetables, and their interest scores in all sustainable food certifications were lower. Despite the challenges posed by various consumers’ interests and minimal changes in food consumption patterns, our findings suggest that sustainable certifications present a promising avenue for straightforward interventions to promote the adoption of sustainable diets and to address climate change.

Food sovereignty is an emerging conceptual framework of global food politics, which not only challenges the fundamentals of the current food regime, but proposes a set of tangible policy directions to address contemporary food crises including starvation, hunger, and malnutrition. Food sovereignty is generally defined as the right of people to healthy and culturally accepted food produced through ecologically sound practices and sustainable production techniques. The peasants' movement Via Campesina played an instrumental role in the emergence of the concept of food sovereignty. Launched at the World Food Summit in 1996, food sovereignty encourages traditional methods and indigenous knowledge in agricultural production, protects rights of farmers related to natural resources to produce foods and upholds people's right to determine appropriate policy choices on agriculture and food. By advocating that small farmers should themselves have full control over the production system and natural resources, food sovereignty places small farmers and food production systems at the centre of the food regime. Further, it adopts agroecology principles, which focus on producing quality food products without negatively affecting the environment and natural resources. This is critical to ensure sustainable food production. The practical applicability of food sovereignty remains a major challenge for the developing countries.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between self-reported changes in food consumption over the past 2 years, quality of actual diet, and declared intentions to eat more plant-based foods while reducing meat consumption in the next year. A cross-sectional study using Computer-Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) was conducted on 1003 Polish adults in 2023. The Beliefs and Eating Habits Questionnaire (KomPAN) was used to assess the frequency of consuming various food groups and to calculate diet quality indices. Four distinct segments ("No change", "All products limited", "Changes in meat", and "Less red meat, more other products") were identified using cluster analysis. Logistic regression analysis verified the associations between these clusters, diet quality indices, and intended changes in plant-based food and meat consumption. The study results showed that most pre-existing changes involved reduced red meat intake (52%). The "No change" cluster (47.9%) was represented by more men, people with lower education, and those with a lower overall dietary quality index (DQI). A higher quality diet (as indicated by the DQI) was associated with a greater tendency to increase plant food consumption and reduce meat consumption across the entire group and within each cluster. A better understanding of how changes in food consumption relate to diet quality and intended changes in plant-based food and meat consumption can inform interventions promoting sustainable consumption, considering both nutritional recommendations and environmental requirements.

Purpose: To aim of the study was to analyze the effects of dietary changes on feline obesity in cats in the United States. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Recent studies indicate that dietary changes play a crucial role in addressing feline obesity in the United States. Research shows that transitioning to high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets can significantly reduce weight gain and promote healthier body conditions in cats. Additionally, the incorporation of portion control and feeding schedules, alongside the use of specialized weight management foods, has been linked to effective weight loss in overweight felines. The findings also highlight the importance of increasing fiber content in cat diets, which aids in satiety and reduces overall calorie intake. Furthermore, educating pet owners about the impact of treats and the need for regular veterinary consultations can enhance dietary compliance and improve feline health outcomes. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Energy balance theory, obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) theory & behavioral theory of eating may be used to anchor future studies on the effects of dietary changes on feline obesity in cats in the United States. Practically, to address feline obesity, pet owners and veterinarians should adopt several evidence-based dietary strategies. From a policy perspective, several key actions are recommended to address feline obesity on a broader scale.

Food regime analysis focuses on the role of food and agriculture in the trajectory of global capitalism. First introduced in the late 1980s, food regime analysis distinguishes itself from other approaches to the global food system by integrating the production, distribution, and consumption of food within a broad, relational perspective. Food regime analysis relates changes in world agriculture to the evolution of the state system, the international division of labor, trade patterns, the powerful institutions that regulate and govern these flows of food commodities, and how this interacts with social movements and contestation regarding the global food regime’s dialectical relationship with extant farm cultures, and Indigenous territories, in so far as it threatens their autonomy, practices, and knowledges, as a broadening threat to world-ecological stability and sustainability. The food regime literature portrays a sequence of global food regimes from the late nineteenth century onwards, most commonly understood as a first (1870s–1914), a second (1945–1973) and a third (1980s–present) food regime. In recent years, debate has surged surrounding the characteristics of the contemporary food regime, variously termed the “corporate”, “neoliberal,” or “third” food regime. A recent wave of food regime scholarship critically engages with the terms of the approach writ large. Significant strands of ongoing debate concern central conceptual issues such as the nature of the state, scale, neoliberalism, and shifting multipolar dynamics in the world economy.

RECTOR OF DIPONEGORO UNIVERSITY PROF. DR. YOS JOHAN UTAMA, S.H., M.HUM.Assalamualaikum Wr. Wb.Keynote speakers, Distinguished participants, Ladies and Gentlemen,It gives me a great pleasure to extend to you all my warmest welcome on behalf of Diponegoro University and to say how honored we are to have your presence here at INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINBILITY. This conference has been organized by Faculty of Animal and Agricultural Sciences.Concept of Food Sovereignty becomes more and more urgent and apparent on different levels, from sector level to global level. According to Via Campesina, food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations. It defends the interests and inclusion of the next generation. It offers a strategy to resist and dismantle the current corporate trade and food regime, and directions for food, farming, pastoral and fisheries systems determined by local producers. Food sovereignty prioritizes local and national economies and markets and empowers peasant and family farmer-driven agriculture, artisanal fishing, pastoralist-led grazing, and food production, distribution and consumption based on environmental, social and economic sustainability.Therefore, I on behalf Diponegoro University, am deeply honored for the privilege to host this International Conference. I believe that this conference will be a good place to share your recent discoveries in your respective fields, to build partnership, so that we can move closer to answer the world feeding challenge, together.I would like to congratulate the committee for a job well done preparing this seminar. My special gratitude goes to keynote speakers, all participants, sponsors and all other parties supported this event.Finally, this is an opportune time for me to declare the official opening of the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINBILITY.Wassalamualaikum Wr. Wb.List of Organizing Committees is available in this pdf.

In Southeast Asian societies, food has always been at center of diverse forms of contestation over access to land and other productive means, food self-sufficiency, and quality as well as food-based identities.Political struggles and socio-economic differentiation in terms of food production, distribution, and consumption have dramatically intensified in region. This has mainly been caused by enduring periods of agrarian reform, rapid global market integration, as well as processes of industrialization and urbanization in countries traditionally characterized as peasant societies.Scott (1976) elaborates on struggles and resistance of peasantry in Southeast Asia in context of emerging world capitalism and colonial hegemony - fighting against food shortages and exploitation of their subsistence means. Following region's independence from colonial exploitation, protests and other forms of contentious and 'everyday politics' of peasants and farmer organizations (Kerkvliet, 2009) have, of course, not withered but have redirected their claims against and adaptations to another 'food hegemon'. In this regard, Friedmann and McMichael (1989) critically analyze establishment of stateled large-scale plantations for cash crop production in Global South and new socio-economic dependencies produced by Green Revolution. Furthermore, authors address emergence of current corporate food regime during neoliberal phase of capitalism. In this regime, hegemonic power emanates from transnational corporations and international finance institutions, controlling whole food commodity chains on a global scale and subordinating food and agriculture to paradigm of profit-maximization.The region's pathway of Green Revolution technology and concurrent regional and international trade liberalization have gradually and comprehensively led to growing social inequalities and agrarian differentiation. The interests and life-worlds of small-scale producers, landless people, fisher folk, and consumers seem to be threatened by corporate food regime which favors large-scale and capital-and knowledge-intensive industrial food production (Manahan, 2011).Critically addressing this structural violence emanating from dominant food regime, a transnational social movement - La Via Campesina - emerged on global stage in 1990s. In sharp contrast to food security discourse, originally promoted by United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and related international aid agencies stressing need of agricultural modernization to combat world hunger, social movement calls for food sovereignty. Food sovereignty stands for attempt to radically transform global food-based inequalities by advocating an alternative path of small-scale agro-ecological and socially just modernity (McMichael, 2009). Aiming towards the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems (Nyeleni, 2007), it goes beyond global policy agendas aiming to 'feed world' through technocratic fixes that have shaped promotion of Green Revolution in Southeast Asia since 1960s/1970s (Ehlert & Vosemer, in this issue).The alternative agenda of food sovereignty, which continues to be critically addressed as romantic rural nostalgia (Collier, 2008), is making its way into national and international policy arenas, gaining recognition in view of old and new inequalities: The latest global food crisis and high prices of rice constituting Southeast Asia's main staple food (Arandez-Tanchuling, 2011) continue to hit poor households in region as competition over basic productive means like land, water, and seeds intensifies (LVC, 2008). Although strongly rooted in Latin American context (Martinez-Torres & Rosset, 2010), discourse of food sovereignty and its political struggle increasingly gains ground in Southeast Asia (Reyes, 2011). …

South Asian populations are predisposed to early onset of the metabolic syndrome. Lifestyle intervention programmes have demonstrated a reduction in the metabolic syndrome and CVD risk; however, the most effective components of the multi-faceted lifestyle interventions are unknown. We studied 2637 Sri Lankan males (n 1237) and females (n 1380), with a mean BMI of 23·9 (sd 4·2) kg/m2, aged 22·5 (sd 10·0) years, who had participated in a 5-year lifestyle-modification programme to examine the effect of dietary changes on distinct components of the metabolic syndrome. The dietary intervention comprised advice to replace polished starches with unpolished starches, high-fat meat and dairy products with low-fat products and high-sugar beverages and snacks with low-sugar varieties. For the purposes of this analysis, data from the control and intensive lifestyle groups were combined. Anthropometric and biochemical data were recorded, and a FFQ was completed annually. Multiple regression was used to determine the effect of the dietary changes on distinct components of the metabolic syndrome. The ratio unpolished:polished rice was inversely related to change in fasting glucose (β=-0·084, P=0·007) and TAG (β=-0·084, P=0·005) and positively associated with change in HDL-cholesterol (β=0·066, P=0·031) at the 5-year follow-up after controlling for relevant confounders. Red meat intake was positively associated with fasting glucose concentrations (β=0·05, P=0·017), whereas low-fat (β=-0·046, P=0·018) but not high-fat dairy products (β=0·003, P=0·853) was inversely related to glucose tolerance at the follow-up visit. Replacement of polished with unpolished rice may be a particularly effective dietary advice in this and similar populations.

This essay engages with Henry Bernstein's critical survey of food regime analysis, focusing on the claim that my interpretation of the food regime takes a misguided ‘peasant turn’. I argue Henry's representation loses sight of my reformulation of the ‘agrarian question’, as more than analysis of the uneven process by which capital subordinates landed property, and therefore of the class fate of the peasantry, as such. Rather it is about social and ecological fate on a global scale, involving questions of ecosystem survival, precarious labor circuits, urban slum proliferation, privatization of states, financialization, intellectual (property) rights, climate change mitigation and so on. Significantly, global recognition of these connections to processes of agro-industrialization and enclosure was informed by a ‘peasant’ mobilization that would be unthinkable within the terms of the classical agrarian question. Peasant organizations catalyzed challenge to the neoliberal food order institutionalized in the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime, in a time of massive dispossession. Politicizing neoliberal ‘food security’ as an agribusiness project, the ‘food sovereignty’ counter-movement used a politics of strategic essentialism to unmask the undemocratic and impoverishing architecture of the ‘free trade’ regime privileging corporate rights over state and citizen rights. In effect, this counter-movement performed a food regime analysis from within, importantly reaching beyond a peasant project. This essay revisits the comparative-historical method by which the food regime trajectory can be understood, as a contradictory set of interacting forces and relations that complicate and shape and reshape its politics, and yet allow identification of emergent possibilities.

Science fiction (sf) has repeatedly explored the social and environmental consequences of technological developments in food and energy production. Never before have these explorations been of more importance and significance; recent shifts in resource extraction and processing (by both fossil fuel and ‘biofuel’ companies) have dramatically increased the reach and destructiveness of industrial food and energy production, as well as the extent of their entanglement. This article will begin by giving an indication of the reach and impacts of modern biofuel production, followed by a brief examination of the ‘food sovereignty’ movement and the theoretical frameworks and practical strategies that underpin it. Through the lens of the ‘food sovereignty’ movement, the article examines the ways in which sf writing and culture has explored the entanglement of food and energy regimes. Taking three aspects developed from the ‘six pillars’ of food sovereignty – political power, ecological integration and the fantastical – I examine three sf texts which place at their centre concerns over the entanglement of food and energy regimes. As I go on to demonstrate, all three texts – Robert A. Heinlein’s 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' (1966), the British post-apocalyptic TV show 'Survivors' (1975–7), and Paolo Bacigalupi’s 'The Windup Girl' (2009) – use elements of the fantastical to explore and make visible effects which are rarely seen or only understood in the abstract language of international political economy. I then conclude by reflecting on the urgent need apply these insights in the struggle for a fairer and more sustainable food system.