Is ‘made with real labor’  the next trendy label to buy?

29 September 2023

In a world where technology and AI resolve critical resource constraints,  agricultural intensification (e.g., land, labor, and other inputs) paves a way to pursue sustainable development goals. When opportunities to absorb displaced labor are lacking, this may come at the cost of rural livelihoods. Why is labor intensity, a variable, missing in development dialogues? Would ‘made with real labor’ be the next trendy label to buy?

This is the conversation we engage in;

Chiarella, Cristina; Meyfroidt, Patrick; Abeygunawardane, Dilini; Conforti, Piero (2023) Balancing the trade-offs between land productivity, labor productivity and labor intensity. Ambio : a journal of human environment