Lu Pan,Siyu Kang,Ye Zhu.2025. Encountering Plant Materiality: Limits of Large- Scale
Soybean Intercropping in China

Encountering Plant Materiality: Limits of Large- Scale Soybean Intercropping in China

Lu Pan,Siyu Kang,Ye Zhu

Correspongding Author:Lu Pan  e-mail:panlu@cau.edu.cn

Journal of Agrarian Change, First published: 06 Sep 2025

Abrtract:The Chinese government has promoted maize-soybean intercropping as a strategic measure to boost domestic soybean production and strengthen food security. As a ‘more-than-human’ actor, soybean has historically and continues to introduce uncertainties into agrarian change. By centering plant materiality in agrarian studies, this paper examines the intercropping project in Qing County, Sichuan Province, to explore how soybeans' materiality manifests through their relations with maize, different modes of farming and diverse product markets, ultimately challenging and disrupting the policy initiative. This paper further highlights the theoretical significance of integrating plant materiality and multispecies perspectives into critical agrarian studies. By emphasizing the interconnections between plant materiality and political dynamics, it contributes to ongoing debates on flex crops and deepens critiques of the anthropocentrism embedded in agrarian capitalism.

Keywords:  agrarian change; flex crop; plant materiality; plantiness; soybean

Encountering Plant Materiality Limits of Large-Scale Soybean Intercropping in China-Pan Lu.pdf

To link to this artical: https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.70039