Why working conditions are a key issue of sustainability in agriculture? A comparison between agroecological, organic and conventional vegetable systems

Dumont, Antoinette; Baret, Philippe

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.07.007

Cited by 69 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This context leads farmers to provide unfavorable working conditions and precarious salaries to their employees and to show indifference to or little interest in contributing to improving local social well-being. Our results are in line with those of Dumont and Baret [67], who note that the socioeconomic and political context, history, work orientation, and sociocultural heritage exert a greater influence on producers' working conditions than does their degree of mechanization.…”

Section: Private Ranchessupporting

confidence: 92%

Social Sustainability Assessment in Livestock Production: A Social Life Cycle Assessment Approach

et al. 2019

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This study evaluates the social performance of monoculture (MC), intensive silvopastoral (ISP), and native silvopastoral (NSP) livestock production systems in the tropical region of southeastern Mexico through a social life cycle assessment (SCLA) approach. The methodological framework proposed by the United Nations Environmental Program/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (UNEP/SETAC) (2009) was employed based on a scoring approach with a performance scale ranging from 1 (very poor) to 4 (outstanding). Twelve livestock ranches for calf production were evaluated using 18 impact subcategories associated with the categories “human rights”, “working conditions”, “health and safety”, “socioeconomic repercussions”, and “governance”. The stakeholders evaluated were workers, the local community, society, and value chain actors. The ranches had performance scores between 1.78 (very poor) and 2.17 (poor). The overall average performance of the ranches by production system was 1.98, 1.96, and 1.97 for the MC, ISP, and NSP systems, respectively. The statistical analysis shows that there is no significant difference in the social performance of the livestock production systems. This assessment indicates that the cattle ranches analyzed in Mexico have poor or very poor social performance. The results show that socioeconomic and political contexts exert a greater influence on the social performance of livestock production systems than does their type of technology.

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Section: Private Ranchessupporting

confidence: 92%

Social Sustainability Assessment in Livestock Production: A Social Life Cycle Assessment Approach

et al. 2019

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“…Scholars have expressed concern that farms with high labor needs are "subsidized by free, precarious, or underpaid labor through various schemes (such as volunteers movements, coop farm shares, students in internships, or training programs), underpaid migrant labor, family labor, and off-farm income" (Meyfroidt et al, 2019; see also Getz et al, 2008). Other research, however, indicates that agroecology can enhance labor qualityas its practice defies monotony and farmers acquire valuable, dynamic knowledge through "meaningful work" (Timmermann and Félix, 2015;Dumont and Baret, 2017). But to avoid exploiting their workers, as well as themselves, new farmers must find a way to recompense people through fair pay.…”

Section: Barriers To Becoming a Sustainable Farmermentioning

confidence: 99%

Transitioning to Sustainable Agriculture Requires Growing and Sustaining an Ecologically Skilled Workforce

Carlisle

Wit

DeLonge

et al. 2019

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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In the face of rapidly advancing climate change, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity, it is clear that global agriculture must swiftly and decisively shift toward sustainability. Fortunately, farmers and researchers have developed a thoroughly studied pathway to this transition: agroecological farming systems that mimic natural ecosystems, creating tightly coupled cycles of energy, water, and nutrients. A critical and underappreciated feature of agroecological systems is that they replace fossil fuel-and chemical-intensive management with knowledge-intensive management. Hence, the greatest sustainability challenge for agriculture may well be that of replacing non-renewable resources with ecologically-skilled people, and doing so in ways that create and support desirable rural livelihoods. Yet over the past century, US agriculture has been trending in the opposite direction, rapidly replacing knowledgeable people with non-renewable resources and eroding rural economies in the process. Below, we suggest how US policy could pivot to enable and support the ecologically skilled workforce needed to achieve food security in the face of climate change.

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“…Contemporary consumer-oriented movements are other examples of workers' voluntary engagement in the mobilisation of consumers to achieve responsible consumption and take part in production, such as through shared gardening and advocacy. These reconfigured networks of producers and consumers are focused on supporting environmental and social values of production and consumption [112] and, in some cases, proposing an alternative conception of work-life based on personal satisfaction at work and pro-environmental ethical values [113][114][115]. If the framework of contributive economy and justice represents an interesting attempt to characterise those particular movements at the margin of the capitalist economy, it will require further conceptual and practical elaboration to become operational.…”

Section: Contributive Economy and Contributive Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

Work and Social-Ecological Transitions: A Critical Review of Five Contrasting Approaches

Bottazzi

2019

Sustainability

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Going to work has become such a ritualized activity for the modern human that few people challenge its relevance from a sustainability perspective. Since the Industrial Revolution, the prospect of unlimited growth with the aim of jobs creation has been dramatically associated with a massive social-ecological degradation that puts the Earth system at risk. In recent decades, a number of heterodox theories and policies are reconsidering our relationship with work in view of contemporaneous social-ecological challenges. This paper offers critical review of five contrasting approaches. Those promoting ‘green jobs’ consider the possibility of transforming ecological constraints into economic opportunities by incentivising eco-efficient innovations and generating new jobs. Conversely, critical approaches, such as working-time reduction (WTR), labour environmentalism, political ecology of work, and contributive economy and justice, defend decommodifying work to liberate pro-social and pro-environmental behaviours. We additionally present two opposing scenarios mainly inspired by critical theories. One illustrates the root causes of systemic lock-in leading to the present social-ecological work-life degradation, while the other illustrates perspectives on the ‘politics of free time’ and contributive economy and justice oriented towards building capabilities, and workers’ emancipation and justice in search for more sustainable relationships with ecosystems.

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Why working conditions are a key issue of sustainability in agriculture? A comparison between agroecological, organic and conventional vegetable systems

Cited by 69 publications

References 15 publications

Social Sustainability Assessment in Livestock Production: A Social Life Cycle Assessment Approach

Social Sustainability Assessment in Livestock Production: A Social Life Cycle Assessment Approach

Transitioning to Sustainable Agriculture Requires Growing and Sustaining an Ecologically Skilled Workforce

Work and Social-Ecological Transitions: A Critical Review of Five Contrasting Approaches

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