Global Movements for Food Justice - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 724

foodsystemsandagricultureinluencednotbythecivicconversationPatelreferredto,
butrathercharacterizedbyfoodproducts'durabilityandconsistency.Underthecontin-
uousinluenceof“imperial”socioeconomicpowers,foodmarketsareincreasinglysup-
plied by a very small range of crops and animals, forming raw materials for a wide array of
“fabricatedlavors”(Weis2007,16).hiscorrespondstohugeamountsoffoodwastedue
to pesky crops or animals that do not come out perfectly each time, no matter how much
their genetic stock is narrowed, and perfectly edible food that is thrown away because
itdoesnotmeetcosmeticstandards(vanderPloeg2008;Stuart2009).husasystem
is created where nonproductive energy must be spent disposing of usable but “off-spec”
food, while energy is simultaneously spent to increase control and return to industrial
specifications. This additionally decreases the sustainability of the food system, as control
and uniformity of a heterogeneous world requires significant and continuously grow-
inginputsofenergy(Tainter1988),andisinoppositiontotheidiosyncrasy,variety,and
thusadaptabilityandstabilityofpeasantfarmingsystems(DiFalcoandPerrings2003;
Edelman2005;Jarviset al.2011).Socialtraditions,diversity,andculturearealsolost,as
“subsistencecustomsandtraditionalsocialrelations[arereplaced]withcontracts,the
market,anduniformlaws”(Scott1976,189,inEdelman2005).
LVCandtheidealsoffoodsovereigntyseektogrounddecisionsaboutfoodandagri-
culture in institutions at lower socioeconomic and biophysical scales (e.g., national,
regional,andlocal).Inthis,theyattempttorestorecommunities'abilitytoguarantee
values and rights, to preserve cultural diversity, and to acknowledge and support the
vital role of small farmers in preserving genetic and cultural diversity and producing
muchoftheworld'sfood(Jarviset al.2008;Martínez-TorresandRosset2010).
The commonly raised counterpoint to these positions is that the peasant lifestyle is
losing its defensibility because of its inefficiency. One might in fact argue that defensi-
bilityisanindulgence—surelynoteverysectororwayoflifecandemandtheabilityto
keep existing. The lifespace defensibility of, say, criminals or quacks is of little moment
andactivelyundesirabletosociety.Infact,onemightreasonablyhopethatwaysoflife
taking more from society than they give back will lack the power to demand defensibil-
ityandsubsidization.
hedemandofLVCandrelatedmovementsisquitedistinctfromsuchacaseagainst
inefficiency or undesirability for several reasons:
1. Despite decades, if not centuries, of assuming peasant agriculture is backwards
and inefficient, numerous researchers have found peasant agriculture to be more
efficient in terms of its use of energy, land, and other resources, compared to
industrial, “high modern” agriculture, and to generally better support long-term
sustainability of the environment and its components (e.g., Altieri and Toledo
2011;ChappellandLaValle2011;Linet al.2011).
2. Peasant agriculture generates a significant amount of value, including cultural, aes-
thetic,andspiritualaspectsthatarenotrelectedinindustrialagriculture(Duncan
1996;Pretty2002;Gold,thisvolume).Peasantsalsoproduceadisproportionately
largeamountofthefoodproducedinmanysocieties(e.g.,Rossetet al.2011: 181).