The lived experiences of farming under profound landscape transformation – The case of the Sand Ridge, Hungary

Food production became particularly challenging in our current food system under the conditions of the ecological crisis, including climate change. According to our political-ecological approach, landscape transformations and the everyday experiences of agricultural producers are partly the result of uneven geographical development and vice versa, industrial agriculture contributes to uneven development through the production of nature and landscape. By focusing on one of Hungary’s most vulnerable landscapes undergoing profound land use transformation, the Sand Ridge within the Danube–Tisza Interfluve, we aim (1) to trace the production of nature and accompanied landscape transformation caused by extractivist practices (industrial agriculture, forestry, solar extractivism) and the integration into global food systems; (2) to reveal the experiences of farmersand (3) the ways farming can contribute to landscape regeneration and food system transformation. Based on documentary and GIS data analysis, expert (11), oral history (23) and focus-group (2) interviews with farmers and farmworkers our research shows that the aridification of the Sand Ridge is not only caused by seemingly “external” processes of climate change, but by “internal” processes of extractivist agricultural production which is interlinked with the world economy through trade. Historically, agricultural landscapes have been produced through trade relations integrated into the global economy, increasing aridification through drainage and large-scale afforestation, both resulting in the marginalization of pasturing as a livelihood system. The recent emergence of the Sand Ridge as an energy periphery under solar extractivism contributes to the further marginalization of pasturing and small-scale food production. Landscape regeneration and food system transformation goes hand in hand. Regenerative practices in agriculture are hindered by how the Sand Ridge is integrated to the global economy. Still, small-scale farmers (and pastoralists) have agency in regenerating the landscape through building regionally more embedded food system alternatives.