Agrifood field analysis and sociocultural brokerage. Mexico and the United States: 1950–2016

Abstract

In this work, we propose the heuristic and explicative possibilities of agrifood fields analysis (AFFA) for the historical study of capitalism in agriculture and food. This approach considers the agroclimatic conditions of the territories and the sociocultural plurality of the actors who inhabit them. This phenomenological and eco-territorial approach allows to study, on many scales, the networks of social relations in which actors take part who are competing for the benefits that are created by human labor applied to producing certain foods and making them accessible to consumers. To show the value of the AFFA, we present a historical study of the agrifood field that was developed from the production of fresh fruits and vegetables in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas and several regions of Mexico for the market in the United States and Canada. The concept of sociocultural brokerage allowed us to take into account the social and cultural plurality in the AFFA and the role played by the creativity and skills of the actors in managing the resources of knowledge, society, technology, and capital at their disposal. This way we were able to explain the dynamics of power and the changes in agrifood governance in the field.