Presentation short abstract

Using the example of the Dutch greenhouse tomato, we use ecofeminism and feminist political ecology to question the ideology of mastery of nature and unintended feral effects hidden behind “Controlled-Environment Agriculture”.

Presentation long abstract

The high-tech Dutch greenhouse agriculture sector is often presented as a possible model to be emulated worldwide for global food security issues, due to its high productivity, purported efficient use of resources and insulation from future climate risks. Less visible in social discourse are the environmental and social impacts of this model of production, which include exploitation of migrant labor, high energy and material use (including fossil fuels for heating) and contribution to further degradation of the Dutch biodiversity. Even less discussed is the effect of these constrained environments on the greenhouse plants themselves and on their fungal, bacterial and insect kin.

We draw on the foundational ecofeminist works of Val Plumwood, Deborah Bird Rose and Carolyn Merchant, putting them into dialogue with other contemporary strands of critical and feminist political ecology and more-than-human studies, including the contributions of Giovanna Di Chiro, Anna Tsing and Donna Haraway. We focus on the case of the Dutch greenhouse tomato and how the surrounding project of “Controlled-Environment Agriculture” relies on the commodification of species and on treating plants, insects and human workers as disposable, often expected to work as machines. Ecofeminism goes beyond just criticizing emerging ecological contradictions from growthist capitalism, to point to how the deeper rift between humanity and the rest of nature is based on dualisms that express themselves in the project of control and mastery of nature, and ends up creating unintended consequences, which can be understood as expressions of “ferality” (Anna Tsing) and “monsters of uncontrollability” (Hartmut Rosa).