Conflict and oppositions in the development of peri‐urban agriculture: The case of the Greater São Paulo region

Abstract

One of the main factors preventing food production in urban and peri-urban areas is territorial opposition between different land uses. The aim of this article is to address the question of conflicts close to large urban centres, taking the example of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region (SPMR), a representative urban area, which includes both food issues of the cities: the still important presence of subsistence agriculture that serves to feed the local people and the development of much-gentrified urban agriculture. Our study is based on expert interviews, an analysis of the regional daily press and a study of local information sites and blogs. First, we briefly depict peri-urban agriculture and its main characteristics, and we stress the importance of land-use occupation faced with competing uses. Then, we present our method of analysis and the main agricultural characteristics of the SPMR. The third part is devoted to a study of the local conflicts, their location, their link to agriculture and the consumption of agricultural soils and the typology of the opponents and supporters of this activity. Finally, we conclude with some lessons on the place of peri-urban agriculture drawn from this experiment.

‘Values‐based Territorial Food Networks’—Benefits, challenges and controversies

“…A clearer social-justice agenda and shared proposals for structural-level solutions (such as food hubs, agroecology and policy change) could offer a solution to systemic issues born of government inaction, racism and colonialism. Torre and Fonseca (2023) examine the opposition and conflict experienced by peri-urban agriculture in proximity to big urban areas through the example of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, Brazil. Peri-urban agriculture is becoming more and more important due to growing demand for products sourced from short supply chains and responsible agriculture, for houses surrounded by green or agricultural areas and because of the logistical fragility of global value chains, which could jeopardise the food supply of large cities.…”