Agri-Food Land Transformations and Immigrant Farm Workers in Peri-Urban Areas of Spain and the Mediterranean

Karl S. Zimmerer, Yolanda Jiménez-Olivencia, Alejandro Ruiz-Ruiz and Laura Porcel-Rodríguez
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Karl S. Zimmerer: Department of Geography and GeoSyntheSES Lab, Programs in Rural Sociology and Ecology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16802, USA
Yolanda Jiménez-Olivencia: Department of Regional and Physical Geography and Institute for Regional Development, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Alejandro Ruiz-Ruiz: Department of Regional and Physical Geography and Institute for Regional Development, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Laura Porcel-Rodríguez: Department of Human Geography and Institute for Regional Development, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain

Land, 2020, vol. 9, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: Spain is a global hotspot of transformations of agri-food land systems due to changing production intensity, diets, urbanization, market integration, and climate change. Characteristic of the Mediterranean, these expanding intersections with the migration, livelihoods, and food security strategies of immigrant farm workers urge new research into the “who,” “how,” and “why” questions of the transformation of agri-food land systems. Addressing this gap, we communicate preliminary results from field research in the Granada and Madrid areas. We use a novel conceptual framework of linkages among distinct agri-food land systems and the roles and agency of immigrant farm workers. Preliminary results integrating a combined land- and labor-centric approach address: (1) how the recent and ongoing transformations of specific agri-food land systems are indicative of close links to inexpensive, flexible labor of immigrant farm workers; (2) how the connectivity among transformations of multiple distinct agri-food land systems can be related to the geographic mobility of immigrant farm workers and livelihoods (non-farm work, gendered employment, peri-urban residential location, labor recruitment); and (3) how the struggles for food and nutrition security among immigrant farm workers are indicative of links to local sites and networked agrobiodiversity. This study can help advance the nexus of migration-land research with expanding ethical, justice, and policy concerns of land system sciences in relation to the new suite of agri-food interest and initiatives.

Keywords: land systems; agri-food systems; migration; Spain; Mediterranean; livelihoods; peri-urban; gender; food and nutrition security; ethics and land science (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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