Food and finance: the financial transformation of agro-food supply chains

This article draws upon existing literature to document and describe the rise of finance in food provisioning. It queries the role of financialization in the contemporary food crisis and analyzes its impacts upon the distribution of power and wealth within and along the generalized agro-food supply chain. A systematic treatment of key nodes in the supply chain reveals four key insights: (1) the line between finance and food provisioning has become increasingly blurred in recent decades, with financial actors taking a growing interest in food and agriculture and agro-food enterprises becoming increasingly involved in financial activities; (2) financialization has reinforced the position of food retailers as the dominant actors within the agro-food system, though they are largely subject to the dictates of finance capital and face renewed competition from financialized commodity traders; (3) financialization has intensified the exploitation of food workers, increasing their workload while pushing down their real wages and heightening the precarity of their positions, and (4) small-scale farmers have been especially hard hit by financialization, as their livelihoods have become even more uncertain due to increasing volatility in agricultural markets, they have become weaker vis-à-vis other actors in the agro-food supply chain, and they face growing competition for their farmland. The paper concludes by identifying themes for future research and asking readers to reimagine the role of finance in food provisioning.     

Adaptive strategies of smaller foreign investors in the Russian agricultural sector: identity,narrative and performance

This paper utilises a qualitative narrative analysis approach to examine smaller foreign investors operating within the Russian agricultural sector as private farmers: the foreign versions of the krestyansko-fermerskiye khoziaistva (peasant farms) that were the early focus of agrarian reform. With difficulty experienced by foreign investment in Russian agriculture, and with the Putin administration shifting its focus to larger scale agriculture, interest lies in the fate of these smaller foreign investors, set in the broader question of: ‘Is there really a future for smaller foreign investors in Russia?’ The investors were aligned along a performance and narrative spectrum, and the construction of their identities – guided by their adaptive processes on the ‘Turnerian’ frontier – were found to shape their business conduct, and interactions with labour forces and regional authorities. Negative prejudgment of the labour force existed amongst the investors – with associated negative notions of trust, inefficiency, laziness, morality, and sexual deviancy – and they were involved in explicit or ambiguous forms of gift-gifting, drawing parallels to Soviet blat behaviour. This paper concludes that despite efforts to construct identity, the narratives of the investors betrayed themselves in certain aspects, with elements of ‘undoing’ in the identity process.     

恭城新农村建设的路向分析

恭城新农村建设利用本土兴业,种养致富,使经济具有生态性、节能性、友好性、永续性,是对传统农业的创新。它构建了一种城乡融合和农工互补的农村城市化类型,其路径选择对我国中西部地区新农村建设具有重要的启迪意义。     

规模化生产:我国现代农业发展的重要方向

党的十八届三中全会作出了加快发展规模化生产,推进农业现代化的战略部署。从我国发展规模化生产的必要性、重要性、紧迫性和可行性等四个方面来看,我国发展规模化生产是历史的必然,势在必行。我国发展规模化生产应采取以下对策和措施:1.土地流转;2.发展机械;3.规范程序;4.完善法规;5.培训人才;6.加强管理;7.重视科技;8.政策扶持;9.增大投入;10.增强合作。我国发展规模化生产,可能会带来以下几个问题:一是地力衰退问题;二是病虫草害问题;三是土地非农化问题;四是农民失业问题;五是两极分化问题。针对这些问题,作者提出了相应的防范对策和具体措施。     

“十二五”桂林加快转变农业发展方式探析

桂林作为农业大市,加快推进农业发展方式转变具有重大的战略影响和深刻的现实意义。＂十二五＂期间,桂林必须立足本地实际,尊重经济、社会发展规律,按照农业现代化的要求,努力探索一条符合桂林市实际的现代农业发展道路,实现由农业大市向农业强市转变。     

大城市郊区新农村发展模式初探——上海市松江区泖港镇新农村建设经验调研报告

该文总结了上海市松江区泖港镇不倚仗工业闯出新农村发展道路的基本做法和经验，提出保护农业首先要保护环境，发展农业首先要反哺农业，服务农民首先要解放农民，建设农村不能过度依赖工业等建议。     

长治县农业产业化经营现状与完善途径

农业产业化经营是我国农业发展的必然选择,也是增加农民收入的重要途径。近年来,长治县在立足本地资源优势的同时,农业产业化经营取得了可喜的成效,但也存在农业生产成本普遍较高、农产品附加值低等问题。应通过培育壮大龙头企业,提升企业竞争力,完善农业产业化经营的组织形式,不断加强和完善农村合作经济组织等途径加以完善。     

积极发展现代农业是推进新农村建设的重要举措

党中央提出发展现代农业的任务,是推进新农村建设的重要举措,是解决"三农"问题的现实选择,是加快建设社会主义新农村的客观要求。文章认为,发展现代农业是我们新农村建设的着力点,也是保障农民持续增收,提高农业竞争力的重要途径,同时也是建设社会主义新农村的首要任务。     

以新型工业化推进城乡一体化的思考

党的十七大提出要加快形成城乡经济社会发展一体化的新格局，这就要求加快改革我国城乡经济社会发展中存在的二元结构，从根本上解决“三农”问题。从我国目前发展状况和资源禀赋来看，以新型工业化来推进城乡一体化不失为一种可选的途径。     

转变职能 服务“三农”

乡镇政府作为我国的基层政府,直接面对农村广大人民群众,如何围绕服务“三农”去实现乡镇政府职能的转变,这关系到党在农村各项方针政策的贯彻落实和农村基层政权的巩固。随着农业税的取消以及“以工哺农”发展新时期的到来,农业与农村工作形势发生了巨大的变化,乡镇政府职能必须由侧重经济建设,向强化社会管理和公共服务转变。