Ecology, Food, and Agriculture

We are witnessing the commodity relations across the entire planet, bringing destructive effects on both human and nature. Without a doubt, food and agriculture stand out as one of the most significant spots where the appropriation of nature, the unlimited extractivist logic of capitalism, and the co-evolving and deepening exploitation of labour in rural and urban areas crystallize. The unrestrained exploitation of nature to ensure the continuity of capital accumulation presents a crisis dynamic irresolvable within capitalism. This is exacerbated by strategies such as the enclosure of environmental commons and the commodification of land. These strategies render the nutrition required to sustain physical life, which is essential for the social reproduction of labour, inaccessible.

Today, we observe the rise of an understanding of ecology that has gained popularity across various fields, from mainstream economic growth theories to nature conservationism, from urbanization theories to the pursuit of radical social change. Unfortunately, this hegemonic reading tends to reduce the conflict to a war between human beings and nature. In the face of this post-political reading of ecology, which overshadows its intersectionality with all relations of exploitation and power in the fields of race, class, ethnicity, and gender, our aim is to reopen the discussion on ecology. We view it as the socio-metabolic relationship of human beings with their human and non-human environment and seek to explore what Marxism can and has to say on this issue.

We intend to evaluate the field of agriculture and food, where we find the most direct reflections of the commodification of land and labour. These reflections are critical in both fostering and hindering capitalist relations. By approaching ecology within its historical and class-based context, we aim to invert the prevailing reading of the ecological crisis that renders inequalities and relations of exploitation invisible and “natural” within catastrophic and alarmist discourses. In this context, we invite all scholars, activists, and researchers interested in the topic, especially those from the global South, which is disproportionately affected by this exploitation.