Presentation short abstract

The presentation analyzes how Chinese investments reconfigure food-system governance in Argentina through the case of Chinese-funded mega-swine farms. It highlights the resulting socio-environmental challenges and the debates sparked by the initiative.

Presentation long abstract

Existing literature has shown that, through trade and investments in food-related sectors, China is restructuring global commodity networks and reshaping power relations in the global food system. However, less attention has been devoted to examining how these processes unfold in specific local contexts, particularly in territories of the Global South that have become critical zones for China’s food supply. This paper analyzes the influence of Chinese investments on the governance of food systems in Argentina. It focuses on the social resistance that emerged in response to the proposal to establish mega pig farms in 2020, following the outbreak of African swine fever in China. Drawing on a dialogue between the neo-Gramscian approach of International Political Economy and Latin American Political Ecology, the paper argues that Chinese capital is facilitating processes of reconfiguration of food system governance.nHowever, these transformations tend to reinforce corporate power, thereby exacerbating existing socio-environmental challenges within food systems. Nonetheless, the disputes and resistance show that the initiate also opens space for debating alternative forms of governance.