From "Climate-Smart" to "Climate-Just Agriculture”

Anthony Pahnke is an Associate Professor of International Relations at San Francisco State University. His research has appeared in journals such as New Political Science, International Studies Review, and the Journal of Agrarian Change, among others. He is also the author of Brazil’s Long Revolution: Radical Achievements of the Landless Workers Movement (2018) and Agrarian Crisis in the United States: Pathways for Reform (2023). His popular writings on agriculture, immigration, and international politics have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Progressive, and The Hill, as well as in other print and online publications. He has remained active in small-scale farmer and farmworker organizations for over twelve years.

• Introduction: The Climate Crisis–From the Farm to the World Bank, 1. Bringing Political Economy Back into Critical Theory with Agriculture and Climate Politics, 2. Universalizing Capitalist Ideology with International Institutions and the Development of “Climate-Smart Agriculture”, 3. Power, Ideology, and Practice within Discussions of “Climate-Smart Agriculture”, 4. Policy Pathways from “Climate-Smart” to “Climate-Just Agriculture” in International Institutions, Conclusion: Climate Justice Beyond the Latest Populist Moment

Pahnke makes the case of “climate-just” agricultural policies which put the interests of small holders and the environment over the merging strategy of “climate smart” policies, which center markets and growth. He makes a persuasive case that in the present period, where neo-liberalism is being challenged from both the right and the left, we should pair grassroots pressure with work to reform transnational institutions such as the World Bank.Cynthia Kaufman, Director, Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action, Faculty in Philosophy, De Anza CollegeThis is an important and useful book. Anthony Pahnke is taking an innovative approach of trying to see how international institutions could be transformed in directions they have not gone previously. The issues he raises around markets and fairer participation are decisively important and may result in real reforms. The author has delivered a worthwhile, provocative read!Molly Anderson, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Food Studies, Middlebury CollegeThis book offers a useful and important contribution to the subject of climate change and agriculture. The most important contribution of the book is the analysis about climate-just agriculture, as it offers a meaningful way to consider how markets and institutions may offer a fair return for workers. The work as a whole is a timely and relevant intervention into the world’s most pressing environmental problem.Thomas Sadler, Professor of Economics, Western Illinois University