During the COVID-19 pandemic, dramatic reversals of long-standing socio-economic trends have been observable at the nexus of agriculture and food security around the world. Millions of precarious urban workers were forced to take refuge with family farmers in the countryside when they lost employment due to lockdowns. Similar patterns have been observable during other recent crises, thus raising the question of to what extent the rural economy serves as a safety net of last resort, especially in developing countries where governments cannot afford substantive crisis support for their population.
The issue of climate change and the weaknesses identified in neoliberal agribusiness systems in the context of recent crisis situations, including the Ukraine conflict, challenge us to seek new ways of food production. Some innovations are linked to permaculture, relocation, urban agriculture; others with the promotion of new ingredients (insect flour, plankton, tubers) or the development of new technologies (lab-grow meat, urban / indoor farming).
The open panel invites papers that address one or more of the following research questions: what is the role of small farmers in providing food security during a crisis? Have disruptions of economies and mobility patterns following the pandemic caused an increase in small farming? Have farming practices changed and are they becoming more economically, socially and politically sustainable? How can rural economies be supported by government policy, and where do such policies fail farmers? What other, innovative ways are there to ensure food security in the future?
Our ultimate aim is to inform policies to maximise resilience and thus boost societies’ chance of weathering the many systemic challenges that lie ahead in an increasingly uncertain world. We also wish to make a realistic assessment of the question of “food in and for the future”, while avoiding the extremes of naive utopias or dystopian paralysis.
