The industrialization of livestock farming since 1945
Since 1945, industrial farming has seen significant growth worldwide, with the concentration of livestock farming sites, the standardization and confinement of animals, the heavy reliance on inputs, etc. Farms are just the tip of the iceberg. Intensive cultivation of animal feeds, agri-supply industries, traders and banks, not to mention agricultural organizations and advisory bodies offering technical and scientific support, have all grown at the same time. These players now form a powerful agro-industrial system, the purpose of which is to produce ever greater quantities of animal raw materials at the lowest possible cost. While this model was severely criticized in the 1960s, this criticism has since intensified. It condemns the negative consequences of this agro-industrial system, for its impact not only on the environment, but also on human health and on the living conditions of ani¬mals. The aim of this workshop is to bring together academics in social sciences to try to gain an overall understanding of the logics that underpin the creation and maintenance of this agro-industrial system on a national and international scale, despite all the criticism. The workshop will examine the irreversible nature of the industrialization of livestock farming processes and the world views that accompany them. It will the¬refore examine agricultural production policies and market regulations in different countries; corporate economic strategies that frame breeders’ practices; the types of knowledge and techniques produced and called upon as part of these processes of intensification.The workshop will pay particular attention to the very mate¬riality of the industrialization process (buildings, inputs, biochemical and financial flows, paperwork…).
Convenors : Delphine Berdah (Université Paris-Saclay, Amagri), Marc-Olivier Déplaude (Université Paris-Dauphine, IRISSO), Nicolas Fortané (Université Paris-Dauphine, IRISSO) et Clémence Gadenne-Rosfelder (EHESS, CRH)
