Post-Growth for the Global South: Reframing Agricultural Policies in Brazil

Mainstream responses to the climate and ecological crisis currently rely on the idea of decoupling GDP growth from ecological damage, i.e., green growth, an approach that has failed so far to avoid the overshoot of most planetary boundaries. The limitations of green growth have increased interest in post-growth policies, as seen, for example, in the reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 2022. Yet, little research has focused on post-growth agriculture, a vital economic sector heavily dependent on healthy ecosystems and, currently, also a major driver of ecological overshoot. This paper begins to address this gap, focusing on Brazil, a leading producer of agricultural commodities, by asking how a post-growth framework can contribute to the country’s agricultural policy. We use a growth/post-growth metabolism framework to analyze emblematic agricultural policies. We show that policies promoting both metabolisms already co-exist. A case is made for post-growth to be explored as a useful framework to offer policy pathways beyond green growth, helping to rethink agricultural (and other) systems in social–ecological ways compatible with the degree of structural change necessary to mitigate the catastrophic effects of climate change and ecological breakdown.