Beanstalks and Trust in Chinese and Brazilian Food Systems

Abstract

The growth of Chinese cities to an expected 860 million people has generated unprecedented demand for Latin American agriculture products, but the intensification of industrial farming has provoked shortages of safe and healthy food in both regions. For Brazil, the deficiencies result from the loss of rural livelihoods to export-oriented soy and cattle farming, resulting rural-urban migration, and the consequent destruction of peri-urban family farms as cities grow. For China, agricultural industrialization has involved greater reliance on chemical inputs and contamination with pollutants, provoking widespread public distrust in the safety of food. Through case studies from Beijing and Rio d..