Pierre Desrochers

GGR 489 – Long Distance Trade and Food Security

Instructor: Pierre DesrochersPhone: (905) 828-5206
Office: SE 3273 (UTM-Geography)E-mail: pierre.desrochers@utoronto.ca

Broad overview of the advantages and inconvenients of relying on international trade to achieve food security.

The final grade will be based on progress reports and oral evaluation in scheduled meetings, along with a final synthesis report. Each progress report will be approximately 5 pages (single space). The oral evaluations will last between 20 and 30 minutes. The final report will be approximately 25 pages (single space).

Written and oral reports on module 1 (15%)January 30, 2014
Written on oral reports on module 2 (15%)February 27, 2014
Written and oral reports on module 3 (15%)March 27, 2014
Final report (55%)April 10, 2014
Required readings

– Historical Perspective

Murton, Brian. 2000. “Famine.” In Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas (eds). Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge University Press, pp. 1411-1427.

Atkins, Peter J. 2009. “Famine.” In Rob Kitchin and Nigel Thrift (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Volume 4. Elsevier, pp. 14-20.

Nillesen, Eleonora and Erwin Bulte. 2014. “Natural Resources and Violent Conflict: An Overview of the Literature.” Annual Review of Resource Economics Vol. 6 (forthcoming).

Akram-Lodhi, A. Haroon. 2009. “(Review of) World Food Security: A History since 1945.” Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d’études du développement 28 (3/4) : 605-608.

Our World in Data – Famines.

– Current Context

Chang, Ha-Joon. 2009. “Rethinking Public Policy in Agriculture: Lessons from History, Distant and Recent.” Journal of Peasant Studies 36 (3): 477-515.

Fader, Marianela, Dieter Gerten, Michael Krause Wolfgang Lucht and Wolfgang Cramer. 2013. “Spatial Decoupling of Agricultural Production and Consumption: Quantifying Dependences of Countries on Food Imports due to Domestic Land and Water Constraints.” Environmental Research Letters 8 (1) 014046

Kissinger, Meidad. 2012. “International Trade Related Food Miles – The Case of Canada.” Food Policy 37 (2): 171-178.

Schiffman, Richard. 2013. “Hunger, Food Security, and the African Land Grab.” Ethics & International Affairs 27 (3): 239-249.

Smith, Peter. 2013. “Delivering Food Security without Increasing Pressure on Land.” Global Food Security 2 (1): 18-23.

Lee, Richard Philip. 2013. “The Politics of International Agri-Food Policy: Discourses of Trade-Oriented Food Security and Food Sovereignty.” Environmental Politics 22 (2): 216-234.

FAO. 2014. State of Food Insecurity in the World (IN BRIEF). 

Jennifer Clapp, Jennifer. 2015. Food Security and International Trade: Unpacking Disputed Narratives. FAO.

– DeSchutter Vs Lamy (Overview)

WTO. 2010. “Trade important for food security, UN specialist tells agriculture delegations.” WTO News (November 18).

J.K and C. B. 2011. “FOOD: WTO “Must Address” Food Security.” IRIN Global (December 23).

WTO. 2011. “Lamy Rebuts UN Food Rapporteur’s Claim that WTO Talks Hold Food Rights ‘Hostage.’” WTO News (December 14).

– Supplemental links (Browse)

WTO on food security

UN OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights). Toolkit on the Right to Food.

UN Committee on Global Food Security

FAO Committee on World Food Security

Moore Lappe, Frances, Jennifer Clapp, Timothy A. Wise, et.al. 2013. Framing Hunger: A Response to “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012”. Small Planet Institute.

required readings

– The Case for Long Distance Agricultural Trade

Bauer, Peter T. 2004/2000. From Subsistence to Exchange and Other Essays. Princeton University Press, chapter 1

Audet, Kristelle. 2013. Liberalization’s Last Frontier: Canada’s Food Trade, Conference Board of Canada (Centre for Food in Canada) (July) (Press release).

– Agricultural Trade and Food Security

Lamy, Pascal. 2011. “International Trade – A Vital Component of the Food Security Picture.” WTO News – Speeches (August 30).

Johnson, Robbin. 2009. Food Security: The Role of Agricultural Trade. IPC Discussion Paper (June).

Hebebrand, Charlotte and Kristin Wedding. 2010. The Roles of Market and Trade in Food Security, CSIS (Global Food Security Project).

Kerr, William A. 2011. “The Role of International Trade in Achieving Food Security.” The Estey Centre Journal of International Law and Trade Policy 12 (2): 44-53.

Nelson, Gerald, Amanda Palazzo, Claudia Ringler, Timothy Sulser and Miroslav Batka. 2009. The Role of International Trade in Climate Change Adaptation. ICTSD-IPC Platform on Climate Change, Agriculture and Trade (Issue Brief No. 4).

[UK] Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. 2013. Can Trade Improve Food Security? Trade and Investment Analytical Papers (Topic 9 of 18) (January 30).

Chandra, Alexandra C. and Lucky A. Lontoh. 2010. Regional Food Security and Trade Policy in Southeast Asia: The Role of ASEAN. Series on Trade and the Food Security – Policy Report 3. International Institute for Sustainable Development.

– The Case against Agricultural Trade Restrictions

Anderson, Kym. 2012. “Government Trade Restrictions and International Price Volatility.” Global Food Security 1 (2): 157-166.

Anderson, Kym. 2014. “The Intersection of Trade Policy, Price Volatility, and Food Security.” Annual Review of Resource Economics 6: 513-532.

– Supplemental links (Browse)

–. 2010. Updated Comprehensive Framework for Action, United Nations Committee for Global Food Security.

required readings

Environmental, Health and Related Considerations

Igbozurike, Matthias U. 1971. “Against Monoculture.” The Professional Geographer 23 (2): 113-117.

Gonzalez, Carmen G. 2004. “Trade Liberalization, Food Security and the Environment: The Neoliberal Threat to Sustainable Rural Development.” Transnational Law and Contemporary Problems 14 (Fall): 419-499.

Moon, Wanki. 2011. “Is Agriculture Compatible with Free Trade?” Ecological Economics 71: 13-24.

Kahane, Rémi, Toby Hodgkin, Hannah Jaenicke, Coosje Hoogendoorn, Michael Hermann, J. D. H. (Dyno) Keatinge, Jacqueline d’Arros Hughes, Stefano Padulosi and Norman Looney. 2013. “Agrobiodiversity for Food Security, Health and Income.” Agronomy for Sustainable Development 33 (4): 671-693.

– Political Economy Considerations

Wise, Timothy A. 2009. “Promise or Pitfall? The Limited Gains from Agricultural Trade Liberalisation for Developing Countries.” Journal of Peasant Studies 36 (4): 855-870.

De Schutter. 2011. The World Trade Organization and the Post-Global Food Crisis Agenda, Putting Food Security First in the International Trade System. United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food (Activity Report – November 2011).

– Food Sovereignty

Chaifetz, Ashley and Pamela Jagger. 2014. “40 Years of Dialogue on Food Sovereignty: A Review and a Look Ahead.” Global Food Security 3 (2): 85-91.

Carney, Megan. 2011. “The Food Sovereignty Prize: Implications for Discourse and Practice.” Food and Foodways 19 (3):169-180.

Patel, Rajeev C. 2012. “Food Sovereignty: Power, Gender, and the Right to Food.” PLoS Med 9(6): e1001223.

Philipp Aerni. 2011. “Food Sovereignty and its Discontents.” ATDF Journal 8 (1/2): 23-40.

– Supplemental links (Browse)

See GGR 489 – Special Topics in Human Geography: The (Re)Localization of Food Production: Debates and Controversies.