Re-Peasantization of Southern Italy

Discussion

Adam Arvidsson:

"In recent decades Southern Europe has seen significant processes of re-peasantization. Part of a more general ‘fight for autonomy and survival in a context of deprivation and dependency’ that is taking place globally (Van der Ploeg, 2018:7, Calvario, 2017, Xie, 2021, Krzysztofowicz et al, 2020). Processes of re- peasantization are often driven by young skilled people who find little space to realize their visions and life projects within the framework of traditional corporate careers (or who struggle to find such careers in the first place). In general, such ‘neorural’ peasantries (Gulink & Dortmans, 1997) embrace a vision of rural life informed by general adversity to the industrial agro-economy; an interest in rediscovering traditional peasant practices, combined with an attention to alternative agricultural techniques like agroecology or biodynamic farming and affinity to new peasant based social movements (Calvario, 2020). Neorural changemakers are part of what van der Ploeg (2008) calls ‘New Peasantries’, a term developed to underline the evolving diversity of rural social and economic life as processes of re-peasantization bring educated young people back into agriculture, and as new peasant movements redefine the sometimes negative and backward connotations that the term ‘peasant’ had at times accumulated in classical social theory (Calvario, 2017, Bernstein et al. 2018). The term ‘peasantries’ underlines the diversity and complexity of the contemporary rural world, while stressing the common condition of small-scale, capital-poor and labour-intensive agriculture, that, ever since Chayanov (1925[1966]), has been understood to distinguish peasants from ‘farmers’, who practice capital-intensive large scale industrial farming. Some neo-rurals strive to realize their visions within the framework of collective organizations, like the growing food sovereignty or agroecological movements (Altieri & Toledo, 2011, Calvario, et al, 2020). However many, like the ones that we focus on in this paper, go at it alone, trying to stay true to their visions of a more just, sustainable and authentic rural existence while at the same time confronting global markets in conditions of relative disempowerment. They tend to adopt some of the agricultural techniques and parts of the overall worldview promoted by agroecology movements, without getting involved in their actual politics (Giraldo & Rosset, 2018). Instead, true to the changemaker mindset, they aim at pursuing social change through market-oriented enterprise and are generally illuminated by the belief that the combination of new technologies and the correct subjective ‘mentality’ can integrate economic sustainability with progressive social change. Sharing a structural condition akin to that of the poorer Southern peasantries that have been the focus of much of the literature on reactions on climate change (see below), they are forced to settle for what some have called ‘partial decommodification’, where a ‘”de-commodified” value is created on top of a “capitalistic” value, which continues to be exchanged on a “capitalistic” market, albeit in a “niche” form’ (Matacena & Corvo, 2020:432).

In Italy neorural re-peasantization makes up a growing phenomenon, to the point where small-scale rural enterprises set up by young people with university degrees have becomes the most important source of growth in the Italian agricultural sector (Censis, 2014). Some are politically organized, seeking to build alternative agricultural economies on a local scale, following the example of new peasant movements. Most, like the ones we interviewed for this article, opt for a market-oriented agriculture addressing the global market for Italian ‘quality’ produce opened-up by the likes of Slow Food (Luise, 2020).Following on the ‘quality revolution’ of the 1990’s; building on the success of the wine sector, and inspired by movements like Slow Food, Italy has seen a proliferation of small scale quality growers oriented towards the ‘artisanal’ production of high value-added produce like wine, olive oil, cheese, ham, salami and other processed meats along with ‘typical’ fruits and vegetables, like the ‘pendolo’ tomatoes that grow on the slopes of the Vesuvio (Brunori et al, 2013 , Fonte & Cuoco, 2015). The notion of ‘quality’ emerges as a hybrid between two elements. On the one hand, the conservative orientation of the successful Italian Slow Food movement has promoted an emphasis on ‘traditional’ crops and techniques, like the ‘pre-industrial grains’ grown in the Cilento region of Southern Italy. In this view, ‘quality’ produce derives form a secular peasant tradition, uncorrupted by change, which sometimes blends with a nostalgic vision of a ‘civiltà contadina’ (peasant society) destroyed by modernization (Grumo, 2012). (In the South of Italy, such nostalgia sometimes shows affinity to the emerging revisionist historiography of Italian unification, postulating the pre- unification South as an idyllic ‘Borbonia Felix’, cf. De Lorenzo, 2013). This way, ‘quality’ is a notion that goes beyond the mere materiality of agricultural produce to signify a combination of ecological resilience and respect for secular tradition. On the other hand, the quality frame embraces novel technologies and the rural changemakers that we interviewed are modernizers. They embrace modern farming technologies, some even experiment with industry 4.0 applications like field sensors, drones, humidity control systems and hydroponics. They actively embrace the possibilities of digital technologies and most have social media accounts. They use social media and online advertising and they are generally oriented towards a national, or even international market, often via ecommerce. Their methods and outlook set them apart from most other farmers in their vicinity who tend to practice some variety of modernist industrial farming. This way, rural changemakers represent the cutting edge of Italian agricultural modernization and are at the receiving end of a host of policies addressing technological upgrades in rural development (like the nationwide Industry 4.0 programme, Giordano, 2020).At the same time, they lead a fairly precarious market-oriented existence and they generally lack the support of established farmer organizations (like the consorzi agrari). Above all they are quite recent arrivals into the rural lifestyle and as such they lack an established traditional lifeworld to fall back on. In this situation, the narrative of ‘quality’ provides a framework that allows them to integrate the sometimes paradoxical demands of practicing an agriculture that is ecologically sound and true to tradition, while at the same time making a living on the market."

(https://www.academia.edu/78903321/Climate_Perplexity_Pre_Pub)