The growing global interest in natural resources for business, poverty reduction, food security and increasingly for climate change mitigation purposes puts a huge burden on social reproduction, ecological regeneration, and/or environmental conservation. Particularly, more intensive forms of agro-commodity production are not only leading to soil exhaustion, toxic landscapes and waterscapes, rural out-migration and surplus populations worldwide, but are also resulting in catastrophic and irreversible impacts for countless species, including our own. These ‘extractivist’ features of some forms of capitalist agriculture resonate with those characteristics of traditional extractive sectors such as mining, forestry, oil and gas. As a result, the concept of ‘agrarian extractivism’, or ‘agro-extractivism’ is gradually gaining currency among activists, scholars, practitioners, and civil servants arguably beyond the Latin American context in which it originated.

At the same time, alternative food futures such as agroecology are gaining ground and increasingly being adopted and at times co-opted to serve the interests of global sustainability agendas. While sometimes romanticized as a viable, inclusive and sustainable alternative, agroecological transitions are fraught with challenges and require rethinking how we work with ecosystems with a shift in productive and reproductive relations in agriculture. Yet, the overlapping socioeconomic, climate, ecological and political crises in the countryside and beyond demand change. This Roundtable will critically discuss these important and urgent issues.

The objectives of the roundtable discussion are (i) discuss/debate the development dynamics of agro-extractivism, as well as its conceptual and methodological premises and particularities; and (ii) reflect on the opportunities and challenges for agroecological transitions in the contemporary context. The Chair will circulate guiding questions and themes for all participants to reflect upon and discuss during the Roundtable. All participants have written extensively on these themes and will draw from their own research for what promises to be a lively and vibrant discussion.

The objectives of the roundtable discussion are (i) discuss/debate the development dynamics of agro-extractivism, as well as its conceptual and methodological premises and particularities; and (ii) reflect on the opportunities and challenges for agroecological transitions in the contemporary context. The Chair will circulate guiding questions and themes for all participants to reflect upon and discuss during the Roundtable. All participants have written extensively on these themes and will draw from their own research for what promises to be a lively and vibrant discussion.

The objectives of the roundtable discussion are (i) discuss/debate the development dynamics of agro-extractivism, as well as its conceptual and methodological premises and particularities; and (ii) reflect on the opportunities and challenges for agroecological transitions in the contemporary context. The Chair will circulate guiding questions and themes for all participants to reflect upon and discuss during the Roundtable. All participants have written extensively on these themes and will draw from their own research for what promises to be a lively and vibrant discussion.

The objectives of the roundtable discussion are (i) discuss/debate the development dynamics of agro-extractivism, as well as its conceptual and methodological premises and particularities; and (ii) reflect on the opportunities and challenges for agroecological transitions in the contemporary context. The Chair will circulate guiding questions and themes for all participants to reflect upon and discuss during the Roundtable. All participants have written extensively on these themes and will draw from their own research for what promises to be a lively and vibrant discussion.

The objectives of the roundtable discussion are (i) discuss/debate the development dynamics of agro-extractivism, as well as its conceptual and methodological premises and particularities; and (ii) reflect on the opportunities and challenges for agroecological transitions in the contemporary context. The Chair will circulate guiding questions and themes for all participants to reflect upon and discuss during the Roundtable. All participants have written extensively on these themes and will draw from their own research for what promises to be a lively and vibrant discussion.