There are a wide range of challenges arising from global changes such as increasing globalization and future technological, economic and behavioral changes. Rapid changes, uncertainty and growing risks, are resulting in a great number of limitations to agricultural policy and practice that reveal the inadequacies for their long-term sustainability. Thus, the challenges that impact on agri-food systems require new solutions, such as adoption of new energy sources, new forms of information, communication and technology, new pharmaceuticals and medical knowledge, and also a shift in consumer behavior. The application of these new solutions, may result on the emergence of agri-food systems with new features, very different from what we know today (FRESH, 2009), such as the return of urban and peri-urban agriculture and its multifunctionality in political discourses, social movements and in real lives of cities dwellers all around the world. Noting that, new forms of inquiry are necessary, but for that, it is necessary to have a new perspective on the drivers of changes, and a careful look on the culture or cultural dimension in which the agri-food systems and its actors are inserted. Thus, this essay intends to highlight some topics that are relevant to the discussion on how consumption, stimulated by the market, and the consumers, through their choices, can influence the agri-food systems and be a major factor on political decision choices that could affect the future of human food security.
Redes Sociais