Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PDF The Political Economy of Agrarian Change in Latin America Argentina Paraguay and Uruguay Matilda Baraibar Norberg Ebook Full Chapter
PDF The Political Economy of Agrarian Change in Latin America Argentina Paraguay and Uruguay Matilda Baraibar Norberg Ebook Full Chapter
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-political-economy-of-
agricultural-booms-managing-soybean-production-in-argentina-
brazil-and-paraguay-1st-edition-mariano-turzi-auth/
https://textbookfull.com/product/coalitions-and-compliance-the-
political-economy-of-pharmaceutical-patents-in-latin-america-
shadlen/
https://textbookfull.com/product/malaise-in-representation-in-
latin-american-countries-chile-argentina-and-uruguay-1st-edition-
alfredo-joignant/
https://textbookfull.com/product/advances-in-coastal-
geoarchaeology-in-latin-america-selected-papers-from-the-gegal-
symposium-at-la-paloma-uruguay-hugo-inda-ferrero/
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-social-life-of-economic-
inequalities-in-contemporary-latin-america-decades-of-change-1st-
edition-margit-ystanes/
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-political-economy-of-
climate-change-adaptation-1st-edition-benjamin-k-sovacool/
https://textbookfull.com/product/mafalda-a-social-and-political-
history-of-latin-america-s-global-comic-isabella-cosse/
https://textbookfull.com/product/how-china-is-reshaping-the-
global-economy-development-impacts-in-africa-and-latin-
america-1st-edition-rhys-jenkins/
GOVERNANCE, DEVELOPMENT,
AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
IN LATIN AMERICA
Series Editors
Rebecka Villanueva Ulfgard
International Studies
Instituto Mora
Mexico City, Mexico
César Villanueva
Department of International Studies
Universidad Iberoamericana
Mexico City, Mexico
This series seeks to go beyond a traditional focus on the virtues of
intra-regional and inter-regional trade agreements, liberal economic pol-
icies, and a narrow security agenda in Latin America. Instead, titles deal
with a broad range of topics related to international cooperation, global
and regional governance, sustainable development and environmental
cooperation, internal displacement, and social inclusion in the context of
the Post-2015 Development Agenda—as well as their repercussions for
public policy across the region. Moreover, the series principally focuses
on new international cooperation dynamics such as South-South and tri-
angular cooperation, knowledge sharing as a current practice, and the
role of the private sector in financing international cooperation and devel-
opment in Latin America. The series also includes topics that fall outside
the traditional scope of studying cooperation and development, in this
case, (in)security and forced internal displacement, cultural cooperation,
and Buen Vivir among indigenous peoples and farmers in Latin America.
Finally, this series welcomes titles which explore the tensions and dialogue
around how to manage the imbalance between state, markets, and society
with a view to re-articulating cooperation and governance dynamics in
the 21st century.
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Series Editors’ Preface
v
vi Series Editors’ Preface
Preface are taken from Chapter 1). Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay
display the “highest rate of export specialization in agrofood products,
which makes their economies highly dependent on the development of
the international agrofood market”, in addition to varying state capacity
for designing strategies with the view to tackle the demands from con-
temporary agrofood globalization. This state capacity has been condi-
tioned by national institutions shaped over time and national regulations.
Mapping out several strands of research in the field of economic his-
tory, Baraibar extracts key concepts and theorized notions and then cre-
ates her distinctive conceptual-analytical grid with which she approaches
a comprehensive empirical material (including several interviews with
high-level officials in the three countries). She valuably identifies some
key limitations in two broad fields: land-use and land-cover change
(LULCC), on the one hand, concentrating on “distant drivers and world
systemic explanations” and pressures arising from economic and political
globalization, versus “myopically centering the analysis on formal state
regulations as if recent agrarian change could be exclusively governed by
the nation-states,” on the other. The void she identifies is then replaced
with a multifaceted reflection on the state’s room for maneuver in the
globalized economy, global markets, and global production chains. The
result is a multilayered, intriguing study, which should leave a mark in
the academic literature on this global phenomenon as it displays signifi-
cant depth, originality, and critical analysis.
We find it particularly interesting the way Baraibar scrutinizes the
role of the state in Latin America. She emphasizes it is important to go
beyond the exaggerated supposition of Latin American states “either
as powerless victims” (short of state autonomy) or “completely failed
states or in perfect control”. Her study speaks to one of our aims with
this series, namely to explore the tensions and dialogue around how to
manage the imbalance between states, markets, and societies. The two
approaches: (1) an overemphasis on global forces with a mischaracteri-
zation of the role of the Latin American state and public regulations, as
well as (2) a state-centrist approach that helps little to understand the
pressures on the Latin American state arising from transnational agri-
business, have to be complemented with an analysis focused on bringing
the state back into the picture, she claims. Besides, the sovereign power
of the state is still in place, and should be used to regulate, protect and
facilitate environmental, territorial and peoples’ capacities and rights, she
insists.
viii Series Editors’ Preface
Notes
1. See, for example, BRICS and MICs: Implications for Global Agrarian
Transformation, Ben Cousins, Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Sérgio Sauer, and
Jingzhong Ye (eds.), Routledge (Rethinking Globalizations Series), 2018.
2. n/a. “Transforming agriculture and food systems to nourish people and
to nurture the planet”, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, October 1, 2018. Available at http://www.fao.org/news/story/
en/item/1155122/icode/.
3. Philip McMichael (ed.), 1994, The Global Restructuring of Agro-Food
Systems, Cornell University Press; Philip McMichael, 2000, Development
and Social Change: A Global Perspective, 2nd edition, Pine Forge Press.
4. Philip McMichael, 2004, “Global Development and the Corporate Food
Regime”, Discussion presented for the Symposium on New Directions
in the Sociology of Global Development, XI World Congress of Rural
Sociology, Trondheim, July 2004. Available at https://www.iatp.org/
sites/default/files/451_2_37834.pdf.
Prologue and Acknowledgements
xiii
xiv Prologue and Acknowledgements
and Paulina de los Reyes, for advice, support, comments, and critique,
in this respect. I would also like to say gracias to Gonzalo Pozo-Martín
for encouragement, inspiration and friendship. But special in all respects
is my debt to Lisa Deutsch. She has read several drafts of the manu-
script and contributed with constructive suggestions, from straightening
out facts, to clarifying expressions or following the rules of grammar, to
enhance theoretical consistency.
The editors of the book series, Rebecka Villanueva Ulfgard, and César
Villanueva have been of great support and valuable feedback. I am like-
wise indebted to the thorough work of the peer reviewers of an ear-
lier form of the manuscript. I am also grateful to Mary Fata, Editorial
Assistant at Palgrave Macmillan for patience and support. This research
was made possible by a postdoc grant from Anna Ahlström & Ellen
Terserius Foundation.
This book would never have been written without the love and unwa-
vering support of Andrés Rivarola, whom I have been engaged in a con-
tinuous dialogue about Latin America, history and development for so
many years that I cannot fully distinguish my own ideas from his any-
more. I would also like to express my gratitude to my sister Carolina
Baraibar, my mother Anna Norberg and my father Julio Baraibar for all
their support, love and inspiration. Lastly, thank you Alma and Astor for
making everything—including this book—more meaningful.
Appendix A 375
Appendix B 385
Index 389
xvii
Abbreviations
xix
xx Abbreviations
B Billion
Bha Billion hectares
C Capita
GDP Gross Domestic Products
Ha Hectare
Kg Kilo
M Million
Mha Million hectares
MMT Million Metric Tons
PPP Purchasing Power Parity
T Ton
USD United States Dollar
Yr Year
xxiii
List of Figures
Map 1.1 Map over the Southern Cone of South America, including
the three distinct regions; Pampas, Gran Chaco and the
Atlantic forest (Source Author’s own illustration on map
from © OpenStreetMap contributors) 12
xxv
CHAPTER 1
This is like a bulldozer, or perhaps a big combiner, you see? The change
has been impressive from all points of views; technological, social, eco-
nomic - 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)
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 inte-
grated 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 exten-
sive 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 soy-
bean 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/dislo-
cation 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 special-
ization, 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.
1 INTRODUCTION TO THE POLITICAL ECONOMY … 3
of distantly driven agrarian change. While giant Brazil is the largest soy-
bean producer in the region and in the world in absolute terms,4 the rel-
ative increases of soybean cultivation areas between 2000 and 2015 were
actually the greatest in Uruguay (over ten times), followed by Argentina
(almost three times) and Paraguay (two times) (Graesser et al. 2015,
4–5).
In addition, these are the countries with the highest rate of export
specialization in agrofood products—particularly in soybeans and
beef—which makes their economies highly dependent on the develop-
ment of the international agrofood market (CAS 2018, 7). Soy-based
products (including whole soybeans, soybean cakes, meal, and oil) have
become the by far the most important export items for Argentina and
Paraguay, and rank third, after beef (including frozen, fresh, or chilled
beef and livestock cattle) and forest products (mainly cellulose from
eucalyptus and pine plantations), in the Uruguayan export basket.5 Beef
exports have risen rapidly in Paraguay and now rank second, after soy-
based products (CAS 2018, 48–51). At the same time, beef exports
from the traditional livestock country Argentine declined between 2008
and 2016 because of policies discouraging exports of beef—indicating
the importance of national policies to understand how exogenous pres-
sures for agrarian change play out in each country. See a visualization
of the export profiles of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, 2002 and
2017, including shifts in value and composition, in Appendix B, of this
book. China plays a unique and extraordinary role as the main buyer of
Uruguayan and Argentine exports. While an important part of the agrar-
ian-based exports from landlocked Paraguay also ends up in China, it is
typically reexported from Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, and is there-
fore not visible in the trade statistics (CAS 2018, 51–54).
While export-driven agrarian change has been dramatic in all three
countries, the articulation of change involves both similarities and dif-
ferences across these cases, and they have diverging capacities to cope
with the pressures from contemporary agrofood globalization. It is,
for example, important to bear in mind that Argentina—more than 6
times bigger than Paraguay and more than 15 times bigger than that of
Uruguay—is a much more important global agrofood player, with higher
bargain capacity than its neighbors. Another important difference is that
Paraguay has some of the highest poverty and income inequality rates in
Latin America, while Argentina and Uruguay have the lowest.6 All three
countries have a staggering inequality of access to land. They also share
1 INTRODUCTION TO THE POLITICAL ECONOMY … 5
Nyt jos koskaan toivoivat he, että heillä olisi ollut silmät selässäkin.
He kääntyivät parvekkeelle päin niin usein kuin ilkesivät. Heidän
penkissään kävi sellainen kuhina, että naapurit pitivät heidän
vieressään istumista vaarallisena. Ja mitä pappi puhui, sitä he eivät
kuulleet, — ainoastaan sen, kuinka poika lauloi virttä parvekkeella.
Itse istuivat he virsikirjat kädessä ylös alaisin…
— Marakatti!
— Niinkuin sinä!
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the
United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the terms
of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying,
performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this
work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes
no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in
any country other than the United States.
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information
about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.”
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
1.F.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in
paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of
other ways including checks, online payments and credit card
donations. To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.
Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.