Patriarchal securitization: epistemic domination in the politics of European agriculture

This article examines how the securitization of food production in the European Union (EU) reinforces patriarchal authority and epistemic exclusion. Building on feminist security studies, it analyzes how discourses of ‘food security’ elevate masculinized figures of authority–farmers cast as protectors and providers–while marginalizing alternative knowledges of care, sustainability, and glob al justice. The study applies frame analysis to debates following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, focusing on two key controversies: proposals to reduce pesticide use under the Farm to Fork strategy and the Nature Restoration Law. The empirical material consists of statements, press releases, and media interventions by Copa-Cogeca, the Federation of Swedish Farmers, and allied politicians in the European Parliament. Agricultural lobby groups framed these initiatives as threats to Europe’s survival, invoking militarized imagery and claiming epistemic authority to ‘shoot down’ environmental regulation in the name of national defence. The paper contributes to feminist debates on epistemic justice by demonstrating how securitization both depoliticizes contested issues and sustains patriarchal and Eurocentric authority over what counts as credible knowledge in food politics.