Coffee Break Seminar: Political economy of agribusiness in Brazil: Producing soybeans, reproducing food insecurity 

A short presentation by Isabel Teixeira-Pearce, MPhil student, Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge, on Political economy of agribusiness in Brazil: Producing soybeans, reproducing food insecurity followed by a Q&A and discussion with the speaker. 

Coffee Break Seminars are a relaxed learning and discussion forum for our food security community that take place every Friday during term time at 2pm, UK time. 

Please fill in this form to register to attend.

Abstract:

Increasing food supply is often portrayed as a solution to hunger in international development discourses. However, intensifying food production does not necessarily translate into improved food security and often puts strains on the environment. In fact, food supply and hunger sometimes rise simultaneously. The case of soybeans in Brazil provides valuable insights into this paradoxical scenario. Recent record-breaking soybean yields and profits in the Brazilian agribusiness sector were accompanied by high levels of environmental degradation and hunger in the country. How do these patterns relate and reinforce each other? This analysis suggests that while claiming to feed 800 million people globally, the Brazilian agribusiness model inadvertently contributes to food insecurity ‘at home.’ It deepens historical patterns of extractive and unsustainable economic cycles focused on exporting primary agricultural commodities. Thus, this model not only fails to effectively address hunger, but also worsens future food security prospects.