Policy Press

The Agri-Food System in Question

Innovations, Contestations and New Global Players

By John Wilkinson

Published

Oct 1, 2024

Page count

192 pages

Browse the series

Food and Society

ISBN

978-1529244328

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Oct 1, 2024

Page count

192 pages

Browse the series

Food and Society

ISBN

978-1529244342

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press
The Agri-Food System in Question

To mitigate climate, biodiversity, and public health crises, the global agrifood system needs radical change. The Global North remains central to agrifood innovation but new players in the South, especially Brazil and China, will increasingly determine its pace and direction.

Investigating climate-controlled agriculture and alternatives to animal proteins, John Wilkinson shows that trade, investment, and innovation in agrifood is reorienting to the South. As the global population becomes increasingly urban, he skilfully illustrates the connections between social movements and technological innovation – and the need for consumer acceptance of new food habits.

John Wilkinson is Professor at the Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Visiting Professor at the Federal Technology University of Paraná, Brazil and Distinguished Lecturer and External Examiner to the American University, Rome.

Introduction

1. The Agri-Food System in Question as from the 1970s

2. A New Pattern of Innovation in the Agri-Food System

3. Agriculture Reaches for the Skies: Climate-Controlled Agriculture and Vertical Farming

4. Animal Protein Chains under the Spotlight

5. China: The Pivot of the Global Agri-Food System Restructuring

6. Brazil on the Wrong Side of the Tracks? Maybe Not So Much

7. Countryside-City Revisited

Conclusions