IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v56y2024i7p1936-1951.html

The real subsumption of nature and cryopolitics: Temporal fixes in dairy farming in Southern Italy

Author

Listed:
  • László Cseke

Abstract

Water buffaloes have a seasonal cycle of reproduction. Normally they tend to reproduce more when the daylight hours decrease. This seasonal reproduction also means that most of the buffalo calves would be born in autumn and winter in Italy where buffaloes are dairy animals, and milk production would be the highest in these seasons. However, consumer demand for the PDO (Protected designation of origin) mozzarella cheese is the highest in spring and summer. In order to deal with the imbalances between the seasonality of milk production and mozzarella consumption, and the strict regulations of the PDO cheese production, farmers and veterinarians resort to a temporal fix, and they regularly deseasonalise buffalo reproduction. However, there is an obvious discrepancy between the use of this and other fixes (cryotechnologies) generally associated with industrial agriculture, and the idea of traditional and sustainable food production. By engaging with relevant economic geography and political ecology literature, this paper investigates the temporal fixes in dairy farming and agri-food production through an in-depth empirical analysis of deseasonalisation, as a particular form of the real subsumption of nature, and cryopolitics in buffalo mozzarella cheese production in Southern Italy. The work presented in this article is based on multi-sited qualitative field research of buffalo farming and mozzarella cheese production in Campania region. This paper also has wider implications on how socio-ecological fixes shape ‘just-in-time’ animal agriculture and agri-food production.

Suggested Citation

  • László Cseke, 2024. "The real subsumption of nature and cryopolitics: Temporal fixes in dairy farming in Southern Italy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(7), pages 1936-1951, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:56:y:2024:i:7:p:1936-1951
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X241251477
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X241251477
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0308518X241251477?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Ekers & Scott Prudham, 2017. "The Metabolism of Socioecological Fixes: Capital Switching, Spatial Fixes, and the Production of Nature," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 107(6), pages 1370-1388, November.
    2. Michael Ekers & Scott Prudham, 2018. "The Socioecological Fix: Fixed Capital, Metabolism, and Hegemony," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 108(1), pages 17-34, January.
    3. Ferruccio Trabalzi, 2007. "Crossing Conventions in Localized Food Networks: Insights from Southern Italy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(2), pages 283-300, February.
    4. John Allen & Stephanie Lavau, 2015. "'Just-in-Time' Disease," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 342-360, June.
    5. James Palmer, 2021. "Putting Forests to Work? Enrolling Vegetal Labor in the Socioecological Fix of Bioenergy Resource Making," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 111(1), pages 141-156, January.
    6. Swarnabh Ghosh & Ayan Meer, 2021. "Extended urbanisation and the agrarian question: Convergences, divergences and openings," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(6), pages 1097-1119, May.
    7. Bryony Sands & Mario Reinaldo Machado & Alissa White & Egleé Zent & Rachelle Gould, 2023. "Moving towards an anti-colonial definition for regenerative agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(4), pages 1697-1716, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Matthew Gandy, 2025. "Urban metabolism redux," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 62(8), pages 1483-1511, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Neil Brenner & Swarnabh Ghosh, 2025. "The Monster ‘Within’: Capitalist Urbanization as Geometabolic Escalation," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 56(4-5), pages 668-728, July.
    2. Lipari, Samadhi, 2021. "The making of ‘green’ capitalism in Europe’s marginal regions: renewable energy production as territory grabbing for accumulation," SocArXiv btjp7_v1, Center for Open Science.
    3. Kirstine Lund Christiansen, 2025. "Relegitimising the voluntary carbon market: Visions of digital monitoring, reporting and verification," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 57(8), pages 1190-1205, November.
    4. Menon, Siddharth, 2025. "Sand, plantation urbanism and the extended political ecology of infrastructures in India," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 128542, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Mark Moritz & Jasmine E. Bruno & Daniel J. Murphy & María E. Fernández-Giménez & Nikolaus Schareika, 2025. "Transformations in livestock systems: beyond ranching and pastoralism," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 42(3), pages 1689-1705, September.
    6. Kian Goh, 2026. "PLANET AT THE END OF THE CITY: How Climate Changes the Nature of Urban Theory," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 240-255, January.
    7. Wing-Fung Lo & Li-Pei Peng, 2025. "Synergistic effect of relational values in a participatory guarantee system: a case study of an ecoagriculture initiative in Taiwan," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 42(2), pages 803-824, June.
    8. Ersilia Verlinghieri & Rubén Martínez Moreno & Mauro Castro & Alejandra López Martín, 2025. "TOWARDS A DEGROWTH CRITIQUE OF AEROMOBILITIES: An Urban Political Ecology Perspective on the Airport Expansion Resistance in Barcelona," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(6), pages 1399-1416, November.
    9. Borsatto, Ricardo Serra & Macedo, André de Camargo & Santos, Leandro de Lima & Antunes Junior, Wolney Felippe & Souza-Esquerdo, Vanilde Ferreira, 2021. "Food Procurement as an Instrument to Promote Local Food Systems: Exploring a Brazilian Experience," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 12(02), June.
    10. W Nathan Green & Miles Kenney-Lazar, 2025. "Sustainability capitalism: Investing in climate transitions," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 57(8), pages 1121-1130, November.
    11. Shiwaye M. Tesfay & Genet Alem Gebregiorgis & Daniel G. Ayele, 2025. "Peri-Urban Land Transformation in the Global South: Revisiting Conceptual Vectors and Theoretical Perspectives," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-22, July.
    12. Michael Schwind & Uwe Altrock, 2023. "Negotiating Land in Rurban Bengaluru, South India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-17, February.
    13. Tracy D. Johnson-Hall & David C. Hall, 2022. "Redefining Quality in Food Supply Chains via the Natural Resource Based View and Convention Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-26, August.
    14. Yuan Yuan & Wentao Zhao & Hongqing Li & Han Mu, 2022. "Analyzing the Driving Mechanism of Rural Transition from the Perspective of Rural–Urban Continuum: A Case Study of Suzhou, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-17, July.
    15. Clausen, Laura Tolnov & Rudolph, David, 2020. "Renewable energy for sustainable rural development: Synergies and mismatches," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    16. Karl Krähmer & Luca Battisti & Giaime Berti & Riccardo Giovanni Bruno & Egidio Dansero, 2024. "Towards Sustainable and Sufficient City Region Food Systems: Reflections from the Case Study of Turin, Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-17, October.
    17. Stefan Kipfer, 2022. "Comparison and political strategy: Internationalism, colonial rule and urban research after Fanon," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(8), pages 1636-1654, June.
    18. Neil Brenner & Swarnabh Ghosh, 2022. "Between the colossal and the catastrophic: Planetary urbanization and the political ecologies of emergent infectious disease," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(5), pages 867-910, August.
    19. Kathryn Gomersall, 2021. "Governance of resettlement compensation and the cultural fix in rural China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(1), pages 150-167, February.
    20. Jonas Adriaensens & Joost Dessein & Jeroen Adam, 2025. "Science as a territory in dispute: an analysis of power and paradigms in the conceptualization of agroecology," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 42(3), pages 1757-1771, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:56:y:2024:i:7:p:1936-1951. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.