The Glyphosate Assemblage: Herbicides, Uneven Development, and Chemical Geographies of Ubiquity
The Glyphosate Assemblage: Herbicides, Uneven Development, and Chemical Geographies of Ubiquity
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DOI：
10.1080/24694452.2021.1898322
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发表时间：
2021-05
影响因子：
3.9
通讯作者：
Marion Werner;C. Berndt;B. Mansfield
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Marion Werner;C. Berndt;B. Mansfield
化学物质的无处不在要求人们以新的方式思考人与自然的结合。本文通过对世界上使用最广泛的农用化学品草甘膦(俗称孟山都的农达)的案例研究，展开了农业政治经济学、关键商品链研究和化学地理学之间的对话。在20世纪80年代，草甘膦作为一种既安全又有效的良性杀生剂获得了成功。这种结构使以化学普及为特征的资本主义农业组合成为可能，首先是作为机械耕作的化学替代品，自20世纪90年代以来作为转基因种子包装的化学投入。草甘膦组合无处不在的特点也是发展不平衡的地理位置，包括不断变化的公司网络、政策和贸易。自2000年以来，这种聚集的核心是二、三线非专利农药生产商的过度扩张，尤其是在中国，对他们来说，草甘膦是网络进入和升级发展战略的一部分。今天，草甘膦组合面临着来自杂草抗性和健康争议的前所未有的挑战。除草剂组合是否以及如何重新稳定将取决于化学农业和普遍存在的化学品所面临的复杂的环境和发展挑战，这突显了跨越这些领域的跨学科对话的必要性。
The ubiquity of chemicals demands new ways of thinking about human–nature assemblages. This article develops a dialogue between agrarian political economy, critical commodity chains research, and chemical geographies through a case study of the world’s most widely used agrochemical: glyphosate, commonly known as Monsanto’s Roundup. In the 1980s, glyphosate triumphed as a benign biocide that promised both safety and effectiveness. This construct made possible a capitalist agricultural assemblage characterized by chemical pervasiveness, first as a chemical replacement for mechanical tillage and since the 1990s as the chemical input for genetically modified seed packages. The ubiquity that characterizes the glyphosate assemblage is also a geography of uneven development comprising shifting firm networks, policies, and trade. Central to this assemblage since 2000, yet largely ignored, is the outsized expansion of second- and third-tier generic pesticide producers, especially in China, for whom glyphosate is part of a network entry and upgrading development strategy. Today, the glyphosate assemblage faces unprecedented challenges from weed resistance and health controversies. Whether and how the herbicide assemblage restabilizes will be determined by the complex environmental and developmental challenges of chemical agriculture and pervasive chemicals broadly, which highlights the need for a transdisciplinary dialogue that cuts across these domains.