Abstract

MORA, Sol. The Chinese Pork Industry, the Global Agri-Food System and the Environmental Crisis. Reflections Based on the Argentine Case. Desafíos [online]. 2022, vol.34, n.1, e03.  Epub May 10, 2022. ISSN 0124-4035.  https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/desafios/a.10764.

The severe environmental impacts of the current food production and consumption patterns and the covid-19 pandemic have given an unprecedented relevance to the transformation of the agrifood system at the local and global levels. This article explores the implications of China's actions seeking to protect its pork industry following the African Swine Fever epidemic on the trajectory of the global agrifood system. To this end, it studies the project to install pig farms in Argentina negotiated in 2020. Drawing on a dialogue betwenn the neo-Gramscian approach to International Political Economy with critical agrarian studies, I argue that this initiative shows that, despite environmental and health consequences, China's interest is not in transforming its pig production model, but in transferring it to new territories. As a result, China rebuilds its pork leadership and thus reaffirms its power within the hegemonic agrifood model.

Keywords : Pork industry; China; agrifood system; Argentina; African Swine Fever; environment.

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