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Agriculture-Food Nexus. The Paradox of Sustainable Development in Mexico

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Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

Part of the book series: World Sustainability Series ((WSUSE))

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Abstract

The fall in food self-sufficiency, the degradation of agriculture, and the increase in the obesity epidemic due to inadequate dietary patterns negative impact on sustainable development in Mexico. Mexican agriculture includes a successful agro-export sector of large producers with high productive and financial capacity, as well as a vast sector of small subsistence producers that has been left out of government policies that guarantee not only their survival but also their well-being. The challenges of agricultural and food sustainability include not only the economic well-being of the inhabitants but also the safeguarding of traditional agricultural systems, territories and their natural resources, livelihoods, rural regional cultures, and land use. Promotion of regional food-production systems is identified as the axis of a new agricultural system supported by agri-food research policies. To identify guidelines for this regional approach, we first developed a catalog of issues and changes in food production. In addition, we illustrate how Mexican traditional agroecosystems improve regional food-production systems and make them applicable in the case of Mexico. By evaluating these factors, we provide some useful insights on the importance of the agriculture-food nexus within a sustainable development context.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural and Animal Production, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City, Mexico

    Pablo Torres-Lima

  2. Department of Geography and Anthropology, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, USA

    Kristen Conway-Gómez

  3. Department of Anthropology, University of Maine, Maine, USA

    Paulina Torres-Vega

Authors
  1. Pablo Torres-Lima
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  2. Kristen Conway-Gómez
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  3. Paulina Torres-Vega
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Correspondence to Pablo Torres-Lima .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and Manchester Metropolitan University, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. FTZ-ALS, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Marina Kovaleva

  3. Department of Economic Policy and Public-Private Partnership, Moscow State Institute of International, Moscow, Russia

    Elena Popkova

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Torres-Lima, P., Conway-Gómez, K., Torres-Vega, P. (2022). Agriculture-Food Nexus. The Paradox of Sustainable Development in Mexico. In: Leal Filho, W., Kovaleva, M., Popkova, E. (eds) Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98617-9_2

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