Monocrops

ABSTRACT

‘Monocrops’ is a key concept needed to understand agrarian dynamics today. Strictly speaking, it means cultivation of a single crop in a transformed and simplified landscape. Broadly, it means the violent imposition of a pattern of power predicated upon the concentration of control over nature, labor, inputs, production, profits and knowledge, in the form of homogeneous, simplified landscapes. I examine the concept in relation to processes of empire and conquest and the modernization of agriculture through the Green Revolution and beyond. I discuss how thinking against monocrops can help us imagine how to create a more inclusive, just and healthy world.

KEYWORDS:

• Agrarian change
• Green Revolution
• modernization
• political ecology
• plantations
• monocropping‌

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Diana Ojeda, Alberto Alonso-Fradejas and the anonymous reviewers from JPS for comments and feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 It is worth remembering that the Haber-Bosch process that allows the production of ammonia from hydrogen gas and nitrogen gas, and which is the basis of most synthetic fertilizers used around the world, was first developed by the chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch as part of Germany’s First World War efforts. Both scientists won a Nobel Prize for their efforts, in 1918 and 1931, respectively.

2 Crucial in this regard has been the creation of international and national institutional frameworks which define, for example, the types of seeds that farmers might use. Further, phytosanitary standards introduced into international commerce through international codes such as the Codex Alimentarus and multi- and bilateral trade agreements have had the effect of promoting some forms of agricultural production above others, subsidizing and protecting monocrops in the process (Edelman 2016; Curry 2022).

3 A similar case can be made in the case of pork production in the United States (Blanchette 2020).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrés León Araya

Andrés León Araya is a professor of political science at the University of Costa Rica. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Coup and the Palm Trees: Agrarian Conflict and Political Power in Honduras.