The corporate food regime and Lebanon: Machgara and adverse incorporation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite low productivity in Lebanon’s agricultural economy, neglected for finance and service sectors, land and labor potential are very high. Literature on agrarian and food crises in Lebanon remains sparse in agrarian studies journals and retains a neoliberal developmentalist emphasis on food security rather than food sovereignty. Using the framework of food regime analysis, we analyze the historical developmental trajectory of the West-Beqaa village of Machgara, and how Lebanese family farmers are impacted by adverse incorporation into global capitalism. Placing farmer testimonies in the context of greater macro-historical chronologies, we see how reflections highlight patterns of commodification of land, labor and food.