Abstract

MERCADO, Alexis  and  CORDOVA, Karenia. The agribusiness food industry in the controversy of sustainable development. Estud. soc [online]. 2011, vol.19, n.38, pp.37-65. ISSN 0188-4557.

The global production system contradicts sustainable development foundations. The increasing consumption of natural resources, rising pollution, the concentration of production in few multinational companies, and an unequal access to food, configure a pessimistic scenario in social and environmental terms. The satisfaction of basic needs of the population has not been a priority in an important part of the agribusiness food industry, which because of its social implications, plays a key role in this controversy. The adoption of innocuity, quality and environmental standards are defining new institutional and technological trajectories at the global level, contributing to production concentration and also to a particular and very partial profile of assimilating the challenge of sustainability. In this "global order", socio-productive processes based on local knowledge and cooperatives are reemerging, implying different ways to approach sustainable development.

Keywords : Agribusiness food industry; industrial organization; sustainable development.

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