Towards a post-capitalist-politics of food: cultivating subjects of community economies

Abstract

Agriculture is an increasingly capitalized and industrialized enterprise that has resulted in the alienation of consumers from the process of food production. The separation of consumers from producers is a fundamental source of nonsustainability in the modern food system. In this paper, we present three case examples of civic agriculture representing a breadth of alternatives in the social and spatial organization of agricultural production and distribution. In all cases, producers form associations to engage directly with alternative modes of production, and create markets that enroll consumers in the process of food production and distribution. We argue, using Gibson-Graham’s (2006) “postcapitalist politics” that the (re)negotiation of the economic basis of agriculture generates new subjectivities directed toward a more integrated, interdependent and cooperative economy of agriculture.