'Planting Seeds' for 'Good Growth': Anthropocenic performances of responsibility

Résumé En

All of the narratives described by Bonneuil (2015) argue that business as usual is insufficient for dealing with the societal challenges posed by the Anthropocene. Each narrative has a slightly different response to the question: who is responsible for ensuring the sustainability of agrifood systems so that humans will survive the current Epoch? Producers, who are tilling the earth with machines of variable complexity and are responsible for what toxins are entering the soil and water; or those companies who make the chemicals and machines responsible for the effects of their products on the environment? What about the processors who purchase the produce from the farms and turn these into products that can be consumed by people, animals and machines? What then is the responsibility of aggregators and distributors, who collect, pack and transport the produce and the products? Where is the responsibility of retailors and brands, which turn fresh and transformed products into consumables that are easily recognised by consumers? What role do consumers play when they decide to purchase something that has, through all of these steps, become a ‘sustainable’ product? Finally, where is the responsibility of researchers and actors in the agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS) who are creating and sharing knowledge about what is or could be sustainable? Or, for that matter, what is the responsibility of a State, and its various administrations working at different levels of engagement, who is supposed to govern what sustainability ought to be across geo-political boundaries?In this chapter, I take up this challenge by comparing the two leading food manufacturers – Nestlé and Unilever – who control major portions of the global food system. Beyond their control of trade in food, in 2021, they were the largest investors in agricultural research and development (R&D), investing 1.6 billion and 800 million respectively. Both companies have made ‘responsibility’ a fundamental aspect of their innovation agenda and they are at the forefront of the emerging ‘sustainability’ field. I focus on how these MNCs are justifying the responsibility of their vision and technologies for the sustainability of agrifood systems.