Food Systems in an Unequal World: Pesticides, Vegetables, and Agrarian Capitalism in Costa Rica

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University of Arizona Press, Mar 27, 2014 - Social Science - 304 pages
Pesticides, a short-term aid for farmers, can often be harmful, undermining the long-term health of agriculture, ecosystems, and people. The United States and other industrialized countries import food from Costa Rica and other regions. To safeguard the public health, importers now regulate the level and types of pesticides used in the exportersÕ food production, which creates Òregulatory riskÓ for the export farmers. Although farmers respond to export regulations by trying to avoid illegal pesticide residues, the food produced for their domestic market lacks similar regulation, creating a double standard of pesticide use.

Food Systems in an Unequal World examines the agrochemical-dependent agriculture of Costa Rica and how its uneven regulation in export versus domestic markets affects Costa Rican vegetable farmers. Examining pesticide-dependent vegetable production within two food systems, the author shows that pesticide use is shaped by three main forces: agrarian capitalism, the governance of food systems throughout the commodity chain, and ecological dynamics driving local food production. Those processes produce unequal outcomes that disadvantage less powerful producers who have more limited choices than larger farmers, who usually have access to better growing environments and thereby can reduce pesticide use and production costs.
ÊDespite the rise of alternative food networks, Galt says, persistent problems remain in the conventional food system, including widespread and intensive pesticide use. Facing domestic price squeezes, vegetable farmers in Costa Rica are more likely to supply the national market with produce containing residues of highly toxic pesticides, while using less toxic pesticides on exported vegetables. In seeking solutions, Galt argues for improved governance and research into alternative pest control but emphasizes the process must be rooted in farmersÕ economic well-being.
 

Contents

Pesticide Problems Pesticide Paradoxes
3
1 Farm Households Environmental Geography and Agrarian Capitalism
40
2 Socioeconomic Differentiation and Geographies of Nature
67
3 An Environmental History of Agricultural Industrialization
88
4 Policing Pesticides
120
5 Regulatory Risk and the Temptations of Methamidophos
152
6 It Just Goes to Kill Ticos
171
A Green Agriculture for the Green Republic?
205
Study Methodology
218
Detailed Pesticide Data
229
Notes
237
Glossary of Pesticide Terms
247
References
251
Index
284
About the Author
292
Copyright

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About the author (2014)

Ryan E. Galt is an associate professor in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of California, Davis, where he is also a Provost Fellow of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute.

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