ABSTRACT
Industrial crops are crops whose products have important non-food uses such as fibre, bioenergy, and biomaterials. Industrial crop production has increased significantly since the colonial period due to a constantly growing global demand. Different industrial crops and production systems have been promoted in different parts of the world for diverse reasons and through various narratives and discourses. Despite this large variability, industrial crop systems have invariably become significant agents of ecological, agrarian, socioeconomic, and institutional transformation across the global South. Arguably, many of these transformative processes (and their underlying mechanisms) are highly political, as they are intersect with the interests of diverse actors with different powers that use diverse narratives and discourses to achieve their goals. This chapter introduces the working definition of industrial crops and their main modes of production, drivers, and outcomes. In this introductory chapter we argue that Political Ecology offers an ideal analytical lens to approach and study industrial crop systems and outline how this edited volume seeks to provide a critical, yet comprehensive, outlook of the challenges and promises posed by industrial crop expansion in the global South.
