Fields of glass : labour regimes, techno-science and biopolitics in agrifood value chains / Adrian Smith, University of Sussex.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Adrian, 1966- author.

Series:

Development trajectories in global value chains ; 13.

Development trajectories in global value chains ; 13

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Food security--Great Britain.

Food security.

Agricultural industries--Great Britain.

Agricultural industries.

Food industry and trade--Great Britain.

Food industry and trade.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 247 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

What is the relationship between technology and labour regimes in agrifood value chains? By deploying the concept of agrarian biopolitical articulations, Field of Glass formulates new perspectives that bridge the hitherto distinct worlds of value chain research, agrarian political economy, labour regime theory, and agrarian techno-science to explain the enduring insecurity of food systems in the United Kingdom. Using both historical and contemporary research, Adrian Smith explores how the precarity and exploitation of migrant labour intersects with ecology and techno-science/innovation, such as hydroponic and robotic technologies, to explain the development and changing nature of glasshouse agrifood value chains in the UK. Smith concludes by reflecting on how agrarian bio-politics have shaped the glasshouse agrifood sector and the emergence of contemporary 'high road' and 'low road' strategies, highlighting their contradictions and negative consequences for local development and food supply security.

Contents:

Food Security and the 'Total Ecology' of Glasshouse Agrifood Value Chains

Agrarian Biopolitical Articulations: Towards an Understanding of Value

Chains, Labour Regimes and Techno-science

Fields of Glass: Glasshouse Agrifood Value Chains in Regional Context

The Dynamics of the Glasshouse Agrifood Value Chain

The Post-war Labour Regime and the Labour Process

Labour Segmentation and Contemporary Seasonal Migrant Worker Regimes

The State, Techno-science and Agrifood Value Chains

Hydroponics, the 'Total Ecology' and Upgrading

'AgTech', Automation and the Restructuring of Work

Fields of Glass and Agrifood Value Chain Futures.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 13 Jun 2025).

ISBN:

1-009-45285-1

1-009-45287-8

1-009-45282-7