Agricultural Practices
Featured Rooted in Tradition, Growing for Tomorrow: Sustainable Food Production in India through the Lens of Past Practices
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sujata KalKal
India's agricultural landscape is a tapestry woven with centuries of rich traditions and knowledge that have sustained its diverse communities. This paper explores India's historical agricultural practices, emphasizing their relevance in building a sustainable food production system for the future. From the ancient water management techniques of the Harappan civilization to the diverse crop rotations and agroforestry practices of indigenous farming communities, India’s agricultural traditions hold valuable lessons in resilience and ecological balance. The research critically examines these traditional systems, analysing how they contribute to soil conservation, water preservation, and biodiversity. These are increasingly vital in time-honoured, globally-emphasizing climate change and modern agricultural challenges. By integrating these time-honored practices with modern technologies and policies, the paper proposes a holistic approach to food production that promotes environmental sustainability, food security, and economic equity. Through case studies from different regions of India, the research demonstrates the potential for a synergistic relationship between traditional knowledge and contemporary innovations. Ultimately, this paper aims to offer actionable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers committed to advancing sustainable food systems in India, while drawing lessons that can be applied on a global scale to ensure a sustainable agricultural future.
Green Revolutions?: Food Politics, Energy Dependency, and Agricultural Change in Bulgaria, 1960-2025
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mary Neuburger, Evan Samsky
This paper explores dramatic shifts in Bulgaria’s industrial vs. green agricultural practices from 1960 to 2025. By combining data and metadata analysis, historical methods, and policy studies approaches, we offer a periodization of food system transformation, driven by shifts in political culture, geopolitics, energy dependency, trade relations, and, most recently, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This research has profound implications for understanding the evolution of green agricultural policies on the margins of Europe (in the shadow of the Soviet Union and later Russia), where during the communist era “green revolution” meant the rise of chemical and energy-dependent industrialized agriculture. Under late communism, a new kind of “green” revolution pushed back against such practices, as the environmental impact of fertilizer and pesticide use in Bulgaria became abundantly clear. Indeed, the Bulgarian green movement played a critical role in the collapse of communism in 1989. In the post-communist era, green agriculture has considerable support and EU subsidies, but a green revolution is slow in coming as it faces new constraints–such as poverty, the rise of Eurosceptic far-right politics, local pushback and the interests of the local petrochemical industry. Given the 2024 farmer protests in Bulgaria (and the EU), this research has profound implications for understanding regional attitudes towards green agriculture, the future of CAP 2023-27's Green Deal alignment, and whether the CAP will be able to earnestly implement green agriculture while supporting rural prosperity in EU margins.
