Understanding socio-ecological crises through agri-food systems

Abstract This forum examines how socio-ecological crises are reshaping labor–nature relations in contemporary agri-food systems. These transformations are examined through five ethnographic cases that focus on: the cheapening of labor in the Mexican avocado industry; the migrant labor paradox in Austrian greenhouses; the novel labor surveillance dynamics in digitalized South African agriculture; the entanglement of human and non-human labor in French conservation agriculture; and the re-valuation of tortilla production in Mexico. The contributions are united by a common understanding of labor processes as mediators of the nature–society relationship and seek to broaden current debates in the study of the work-environment nexus. The forum opens up questions about sustained pressure on laborers and the combined exhaustion of soils, bodies, and climates.