Tanya Kerssen

Durante las últimas tres décadas, la quinua ha pasado de ser un alimento desconocido a nivel mundial, a un producto objeto de comercio internacional con una demanda de consumo mundial en aumento. Esta transformación ha tenido impactos sociales y ecológicos complejos en las comunidades indígenas agro-pastorales del Altiplano Sur de Bolivia. En este artículo se analiza el rol que los mercados mundiales de quinua han tenido en la repoblación y la revitalización de esta región que anteriormente quedó vacía debido a la emigración. El artículo, sin embargo, también se refiere a una serie de tensiones y contradicciones locales generadas o magnificadas como resultado de este proceso, a medida que los campesinos luchan por aprovechar el auge de la quinua como una fuerza de ‘recampesinización sostenible’ y de ‘vivir bien’. Por último, el artículo sugiere que el movimiento para la soberanía alimentaria debería poner mayor énfasis en examinar los desafíos cultural e históricamente específicos que enfrenta la recampesinización en lugares particulares.

In the last three decades, quinoa has gone from a globally obscure food to an internationally traded product with rising global consumer demand. This transformation has had complex social and ecological impacts on the indigenous agropastoral communities of the southern Altiplano region of Bolivia. This article analyses the role that global quinoa markets have played in the repopulation and revitalisation of this region, previously hollowed out by out-migration. Yet, it also points to a number of local tensions and contradictions generated or magnified by this process, as peasants struggle to harness the quinoa boom as a force of ‘sustainable re-peasantisation’ and ‘living well’. Finally, the article suggests that the food sovereignty movement should place greater emphasis on examining the culturally and historically specific challenges facing re-peasantisation in particular places.

Grabbing Power outlines the history of agribusiness in Northern Honduras—from the United Fruit Company’s dominance in the 20th century to the rise of a powerful class of domestic elites in the 1980s and 90s including the brutal landowner Miguel Facussé, also known as the “oil palm grower of death.” The power of these elites is bolstered by international aid, “green” capitalism, a corrupt media, and US-funded militarization in the name of a tragic War on Drugs.

On November 22, 2013, the United Nations launched the International Year of Family Farming – IYFF (2014) with the goal of highlighting “the potential family farmers have to eradicate hunger, preserve natural resources and promote sustainable development.” The IYFF is a coup for the millions of family farmers, fishers and pastoralists worldwide who have struggled under anti-peasant policies for decades, and whose disappearance has been predicted, hoped-for and orchestrated time and time again in the name of “progress.” This victory is a testament to the resilience of small-scale, diversified food production. It also speaks to the capacity of small farmers and peasants to build strong social movements— locally, nationally and globally—and to wield unprecedented influence in the international development arena.

At the same time, we must be careful not to fetishize the “family farm” as a space free of internal contradictions and power relations—e.g. between men and women, elders and youth. Upon closer analysis, it may be that the family farm “ideal” scarcely resembles most of the world’s real and existing family farms, many of which have been torn asunder by out-migration and must engage in various (off-farm or non-agricultural) survival strategies. Dealing honestly with these realities, while supporting indigenous, farmer and community-led organizations3 also needs to be part of the conversation about the democratization of our global food system.

The IYFF is justifiably billed as a long-overdue “celebration” of family farming’s persistent contributions to development, food security and ecological resilience. Nonetheless, it comes at a time when family farmers worldwide face perhaps the steepest challenges ever to their very survival. If the IYFF is to be truly meaningful, it must highlight those challenges that most severely threaten to undermine or even decimate family farming and community-based food systems.

What began as a small regional free trade agreement has become one of the primary tools in the United States’ geopolitical pivot towards the Asia-Pacific region. The agreement—negotiated in secrecy—will dramatically expand the rights of corporations over those of food producers, consumers, workers and the environment. This Backgrounder outlines the agreement’s assault on democracy and food sovereignty and examines the TPP’s likely impacts on food and agriculture in Japan, the latest country to join negotiations.