Description
Book SynopsisThis open access book takes the upheaval of the global COVID-19 pandemic as a springboard from which to interrogate a larger set of structural, environmental and political fault lines running through the global food system. In a context in which disruptions to the production, distribution, and consumption of food are figured as exceptions to the smooth, just-in-time efficiencies of global supply chains, these essays reveal the global food system as one that is inherently disruptive of human lives and flourishing, and of relationships between people, places, and environments. The pandemic thus represents a particular, acute moment of disruption, offering a lens on a deeper, longer set of systemic processes, and shining new light on transformational possibilities.
Table of ContentsPart I Foundations
1 Introduction: Beyond Global Supply Chains
2 Supply Chains as Disruption
3 Agri-investment Cashing in on COVID-19
Part II Production
4 Putting the Crisis to Work
5 Going Against the Grain in the West Australian Wheatbelt
6 Reviving Community Agrarianism in Post-socialist China
Part III Distribution
7 Fantasies of Logistics in Aotearoa New Zealand
8 Reproducing Hunger in Pandemic America
9 The Pandemic Supermarket
Part IV Food Politics
10 Disruption as Reprieve?
11 The UN Food Systems Summit: Disaster Capitalism and the Future of Food
12 Against Consumer Ethics
13 Afterword: Temporary Measures