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Feed the futureland: an actor-based approach to studying food security projects

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  • Carrie Seay-Fleming

    (University of Colorado Boulder-Sociology)

Abstract

Critical development and food studies scholars argue that the current food security paradigm is emblematic of a ‘New Green Revolution’, characterized by agricultural intensification, increasing reliance on biotechnology, deepening global markets, and depeasantization. High-profile examples of this model are not hard to find. Less examined, however, are food-security programs that appear to work at cross-purposes with this model. Drawing on the case of Feed the Future in Guatemala, I show how USAID engages in activities that valorize ancestral crops, subsistence production, and agroecological practices. Rather than the result of macro-level planning—of either the New Green Revolution or a greener reform regime—I argue that nonconforming food security projects can be traced to individual actors and their interactions on the ground. I draw on an ‘interface approach’ (Long 1990), focusing on the lifeworlds of development workers, their interfaces with each other, and with the to-be-developed. Doing so reveals how food security projects are significantly shaped by the relationships and interests of development actors enmeshed in particular organizational and national settings. This research contributes a fresh perspective on the food security paradigm and its role within the ‘corporate food regime’.

Suggested Citation

  • Carrie Seay-Fleming, 2023. "Feed the futureland: an actor-based approach to studying food security projects," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(4), pages 1623-1637, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:40:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s10460-023-10460-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-023-10460-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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