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    Local and Regional Initiatives for Sustainable Food Systems in Indonesia
    Reuter, T ; Macrae, G ; Oosterbeek, L ; Caron, L (Instituto Terra e Memória, 2019)
    Limited supply, increasing demand, environmental change and inequality are major drivers of a looming global food security crisis, and Indonesia is among 30 most at risk countries. Since the 1960s Indonesia has industrialised agriculture, following the advice of the global bio-tech research complex, corporations and development agencies. There is, however, an alternative approach, favoured by local grassroots organisations, NGOs and many researchers; of moral economy-based solutions grounded in communal solidarity, small-scale production, local knowledge and direct distribution networks. To illustrate the viability of this alternative, the paper explores new farmers’ initiatives that provide high-yield, high-quality, low-cost food with ecologically and socially responsible methods. Using ‘symbiotic cooperation’ strategies founded upon a moral economy ethos, they protect farmer livelihoods and vulnerable consumers. The case studies presented contribute toward a model for a worldwide transition to socially and ecologically sustainable regional food systems.
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    Regaining Lost Ground: A Social Movement for Sustainable Food Systems in Java, Indonesia
    Reuter, T ; Macrae, G (International Commission on the Anthropology of Food, 2020)
    Since the 1960s, Indonesia has industrialised agriculture, following the model promoted by the global bio-tech research complex and development agencies. Alternative approaches favoured by local grassroots organisations and NGOs include solutions grounded in moral economic systems of communal solidarity, small-scale production, local knowledge and the localisation of distribution and consumption networks. To illustrate the viability of such alternatives, we explore new Indonesian farmers’ movements that seek to produce high-yield, high-quality low-cost food using ecologically responsible food production methods and ‘symbiotic cooperation’ strategies founded upon a moral economy ethos. Our case studies contribute to a model for a worldwide transition to socially and ecologically sustainable regional food systems.