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Speculating on collapse: Unrealized socioecological fixes of agri-food tech

Author

Listed:
  • Julie Guthman

    (Department of Sociology/Community Studies Program, Faculty Services Rachel Carson College, University of California Santa Cruz, USA)

  • Madeleine Fairbairn

    (Department of Environmental Studies, University of California Santa Cruz, USA)

Abstract

Circa 2023, after receiving much hype and investment, two agri-food technologies touted for their world-changing potential, bioengineered animal protein substitutes and vertical (indoor) farms, began to falter economically. Tech sector observers attributed the fall to typical hype cycle dynamics; this paper provides a deeper read. Based on research involving over ninety interviews with agri-food tech sector actors and observation at nearly 100 industry events, we show an unrealized socioecological fix as first conceptualized by Ekers and Prudham. As attempts at preemption, these technologies were able to attract excess capital to an area believed to be in need of fixing, and their backers anticipated and in some cases tried to promote the devaluation of legacy production systems. But the technologies on offer failed to become cost competitive in a timely way since legacy production systems continued to be productive and profitable. It was these new companies that became uncompetitive and overvalued, which in turn turned investments in them into bad ones. Ironically, the agri-food tech sector has eschewed a path which might have made their products competitive, which is social regulation of legacy production systems. Instead they effectively speculated that such systems would implode under their own contradictions.

Suggested Citation

  • Julie Guthman & Madeleine Fairbairn, 2024. "Speculating on collapse: Unrealized socioecological fixes of agri-food tech," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(8), pages 2055-2069, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:56:y:2024:i:8:p:2055-2069
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X241265283
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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. Kevin Surprise, 2018. "Preempting the Second Contradiction: Solar Geoengineering as Spatiotemporal Fix," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 108(5), pages 1228-1244, September.
    3. Sarah Ruth Sippel & Moritz Dolinga, 2023. "Constructing agri-food for finance: startups, venture capital and food future imaginaries," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(2), pages 475-488, June.
    4. Madeleine Fairbairn & Zenia Kish & Julie Guthman, 2022. "Pitching agri-food tech: performativity and non-disruptive disruption in Silicon Valley," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 652-670, September.
    5. Julie Guthman & Michaelanne Butler, 2023. "Fixing food with a limited menu: on (digital) solutionism in the agri-food tech sector," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 835-848, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael Carolan, 2025. "Sustainable Protein Transitions or Transformations: Contested Agrifood Frames Across “No Cow” and “Clean Cow” Futures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-22, March.
    2. Reis, Germano Glufke & Martins da Silva, Beatrice de Freitas & Hartmann, Anna Loraine & Venus, Terese E., 2025. "Promises and uncertainties in the cultivated proteins market: Perspectives from Germany and Brazil," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).

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