Agriculture, food and land: struggles for UK post-Brexit agri-food justice

Coulson, Helen and Milbourne, Paul ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3346-885X 2022. Agriculture, food and land: struggles for UK post-Brexit agri-food justice. Geoforum 131 , 126-135. 10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.03.007

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Abstract

This paper examines the possibilities and challenges of nurturing agri-food justice by using land as a foundational node in the context of the UK leaving the European Union – what has been termed ‘Brexit’. Drawing upon the interconnected literatures of land justice and food justice, which have received sparse coverage in the UK, we develop an agri-food (in)justice lens to reveal the diverse contestations and struggles to transform the physical and political agri-food Brexit landscape in more socioecological just ways. Our research highlights the tensions and difficulties in addressing the complex social and environmental injustices bound up with UK agri-food relations, given the unequal power dynamics that permeate food and farming politics and policy. In particular, the research reveals the continued ‘hidden’ politics of historically-embedded land (in)justice. We therefore argue for greater focus on the multiscalar relationships between land and the intersecting contestations of agri-food labour, capital and knowledge. We end the paper by discussing the limitations of the nascent ‘public goods’ approach to agricultural policy under a purported ‘Green Brexit’ and arguing for participative and inclusive agri-food praxis based on land and food justice to cultivate more socioecologically just futures.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Geography and Planning (GEOPL)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0016-7185
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	25 March 2022
Date of Acceptance:	11 March 2022
Last Modified:	10 Nov 2024 22:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/148644

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