The Political Economy of Agrarian Change in Latin America

Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay

Matilda Baraibar Norberg

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9783030245856
• eBook ISBN:
  9783030245863
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book makes an original contribution to the discussion about agro-food exporting countries' governmental policy. It presents a historicized and internationally contextualized exploration of the political economy of agrarian change in three Latin American countries: Argentina, Praguay, and Uruguay. By comparatively examining how these states have acted in a context of global driven market forces and historically formed institutions, the monograph illuminates the differing capacities of state autonomy under the present era of globalized agriculture.

© The Author(s) 2020

Matilda Baraibar NorbergThe Political Economy of Agrarian Change in Latin AmericaGovernance, Development, and Social Inclusion in Latin Americahttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24586-3_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction to the Political Economy of Agrarian Change in Latin America

Matilda Baraibar Norberg¹

(1)

Department of Economic History and International Relations, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Matilda Baraibar Norberg

Email: [email protected]

End Abstract

This is like a bulldozer, or perhaps a big combiner, you see? The change has been impressive from all points of views; technological, social, economic - everything! I always say that we will never be able to halt this machine. What we can do is to find a way to situate ourselves so that it does not run over us. We should let the machine pass, and try to make it harvest in such a way that we manage to use some of what it produces. That is basically my theory. (Agronomist and Family Farmer, Dolores, 5 March 2010)

A bulldozer is haunting Latin America—the bulldozer of distantly driven agrarian change. The most dramatic change is in the landscape. Agropastoral area has increased faster in this region than anywhere else in the world during the twenty-first century. Between 2001 and 2013, cropland expansion in Latin America was 44 million ha (Mha) and pastureland increased almost 100 Mha (Graesser et al. 2015). The main driver behind recent Land Use and Land Cover Change (LULCC) is the rising global demand for animal products, which requires both more pasturelands for livestock grazing and more croplands for high-protein vegetable feed grains, particularly soybeans. ¹ Exports of soybeans from Latin America more than tripled between 2005 and 2015, and exports of beef more than doubled under the same period (Cepal, FAO, and IICA 2015, 14; ECLAC 2017; OECD /FAO 2016a, b; Ray and Gallagher 2016). Soybeans and beef dominate the drivers of agrarian transformations in the region during the past decades, which is why this book focuses on these two different, but highly interconnected, complexes.

The soybean areas in cultivation in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Uruguay have increased from 30 Mha in 2000 to more than 60 Mha in 2016 (USDA 2018) . The soybean chain in the region is the most integrated to world trade of all agricultural commodities, with the lion’s share of harvest destined to international markets. Soybeans have expanded over other land uses and land covers, such as agricultural crops and extensive pastures, as well as natural grasslands, savannas, and native forests (Aide et al. 2013; Caldas et al. 2015; Graesser et al. 2015, 5). ² The soybean expansion has resulted in increased competition for land in fertile areas raising incentives for land-use intensification, which has significantly augmented the pressures on natural resources. In a parallel way, pasture areas to graze cattle have expanded over forests and other natural and seminatural areas, such as grassland/savannah ecosystems (ECLAC 2017; Graesser et al. 2015; Lambin and Meyfroidt 2011; de Waroux et al. 2017; Lipton 2009). For example, the dry tropical forests of the Gran Chaco region are currently disappearing faster than any other forests in the world and increased ranching is the main cause (Caldas et al. 2015; Graesser et al. 2015, 5). Considering that unexploited agricultural land areas are getting scarcer throughout the world, while there are still significant reserves in Latin America, it is probable that this region will continue to be of crucial importance as a global food provider. ³

The dramatic LULCC in the wake of soybean-beef expansion/dislocation has come hand in hand with changes in forms of production and social relations . While there is a significant amount of variance, increased competition for land have pushed farming systems toward increased use of productivity-boosting and labor-sparing technologies, product specialization, and economies of scale. These shifts have occurred, to varying degrees, in both crop and livestock systems, but the soybean sector has been a forerunner in bringing in new game-changing technologies and organizational models into agriculture. This has in turn caused multiple social-ecological effects, ranging from loss of native forests and savannas, grassland and cropland farming intensification (causing concerns over biodiversity loss, erosion and pollution of waterways), to agribusiness advancement and displacement of family farmers (causing concerns over land concentration, urbanization and loss of food sovereignty). While the region has a long history of export-driven agropastoral transformations, in addition to the dramatic changes in land areas, the current scope and pace of change are historically unprecedented.

However, is it simply increased foreign demand for meat/animal products driving these changes? Due to the export-driven character of recent shifts in agricultural production, LULCC in Latin America is often analyzed in a context of contemporary globalization. In this literature, the Latin American state is often either entirely neglected or assumed to simply comply (by debt-driven necessity or consent) with the rules set by transnational agribusiness firms, international organizations, and/or the advanced economies of the world system. At the other end of the spectrum, innumerable studies and reports address different national regulatory frameworks and policies, without any consideration of exogenous drivers, as if the states were in complete and exclusive control over the changes in their territory. There is a need to move beyond overly simplistic assumptions of Latin American states either as powerless victims, completely failed states or in perfect control.

The point of departure of this book is that the state remains an important actor co-shaping agrarian change. Although the power of transnational agribusiness has increased, the state still has authority over legal regulatory framework in its territory, for example the design of environmental laws, the fiscal system, public investments in roads and port infrastructure, farming support systems and public spending on agricultural research, development, and education. These public regulations can facilitate, accept, renegotiate, ignore, or resist the changes in social relations and production models brought by the distantly driven agropastoral expansion, intensification, and concentration processes. The state is, nevertheless, not the only game in town. It is only one of three interdependent pillars that all need to be addressed simultaneously in order to understand recent agrarian change in Latin America: (1) Legacies of the past: the historical formation of institutions in Latin America; and (2) Contemporary agrofood globalization and in particular the global commodity chains (GCC) of soybeans and beef; as well as (3) National regulatory systems of the state, including the negotiations and power relations they express.

This book takes on the important task of a deep, historicized, contextualized, and comparative exploration of agrarian change. It is grounded in t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction to the Political Economy of Agrarian Change in Latin America
• 2. Changes and Continuities in Agrofood Relations, 1870–1970s
• 3. Agrofood Globalization: The Global Soybean and Beef Commodity Chains
• 4. Regulative Shifts Paving the Way for Agrarian Change
• 5. Regulative Shifts and Agrarian Change of the Twenty-First Century
• 6. Conclusion: State Autonomy and Capacity in a Comparative Light
• Back Matter