Strategies and hybrid dynamics of soy transnational companies in the Southern Cone

Wesz, Valdemar João

doi:10.1080/03066150.2015.1129496

Cited by 59 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The second group includes the Southern Cone countries of Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay, which had high levels (>500 km 2 ) of infrastructure expansion around 75% of their PAs (figure 6). The major drivers of infrastructure expansion in these countries in and around PAs are likely the expansion of agriculture, cattle ranching, exotic tree plantation [44][45][46], and urban sprawl [47].…”

Section: Infrastructure Expansion Within and Around Protected Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using nighttime lights to assess infrastructure expansion within and around protected areas in South America

Andrade‐Núñez

Aide

2020

Environ. Res. Commun.

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Protected areas (PAs) are important mechanisms for conserving biodiversity and buffering anthropogenic pressures, but the expansion and intensification of human activities within and around PAs are threatening the biological diversity they are designed to protect. In South America, a region which includes many biodiversity hotspots (e.g., Atlantic Forest, Andes), agriculture, mining, oil and gas exploitation, dam construction, and settlements have been expanding and intensifying within and around PAs. These human activities need infrastructure (e.g., buildings, logistic facilities, ports), which leads to increased pressure on PAs. In this study, we used nighttime light data and the World Database on Protected Areas to evaluate the extent of intrusion of infrastructure in PAs in South America between 2001 and 2011. Our results show that in general PAs in all of the seven IUCN categories are buffering the intrusion of infrastructure within them, but this was not the case for PAs in multiple-use categories where there was a considerable increase in infrastructure within these PAs. The largest increase in infrastructure occurred within the first 60 km from the border of the PAs, and for multiple-use categories, the peak occurred in the first 10 km. In addition, infrastructure expansion around PAs in category I showed more variability and the largest extent. Infrastructure expansion within and around PAs varied among countries. There were only 23 of the 2,902 PAs with zero expansion, 16 were located in Brazil, four in Colombia, and one in Suriname, Venezuela, and French Guiana. Ecuador and Venezuela were the two countries that had the most infrastructure expansion within and around their PAs, while Guyana and French Guiana had the least development. Presently, South America has ∼22% of the land area under some type of protection. Hopefully, the management of PAs will improve to help buffer the impacts of human activities and improve biodiversity conservation. Unfortunately, our results show that opposite, infrastructure is expanding within and around the PAs, which will most likely lead to ecological degradation and isolation of many of these PAs.

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Section: Infrastructure Expansion Within and Around Protected Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using nighttime lights to assess infrastructure expansion within and around protected areas in South America

Andrade‐Núñez

Aide

2020

Environ. Res. Commun.

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“…Flexible crops are agriculturally flexible. Both small‐ and large‐scale producers plant soy, and the crop suits both industrial and agrarian livelihood strategies (Mier y Terán Giménez Cacho ; Vennet, Schneider, and Dessein ; Wesz Junior ). The crop can be scaled up and planted in vast monocultural fields using the latest agricultural technology or incorporated into diversified rotations on small plots using manual labor.…”

Section: Flexible Land Labor and Cropsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farming out of place:

Ofstehage

2018

American Ethnologist

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North American soybean farmers have responded to farmland inaccessibility in the US Midwest by purchasing and operating large soybean farms in western Bahia, Brazil. They have turned to “flexible farming” and flexible crops, labor, and land that are commodified, replaceable, and alienated from social and physical relations. Nevertheless, temporalities of farming survive, redefined in terms of progress and backwardness, and new materialities and models of farming emerge. This emergent agrarianism is flexible in terms of fungible means of production and farmer subjectivities that push the boundaries of “family farming.” The detachment and mobility of things and people in global agricultural production disrupts rural life and generates values and practices as farmers engage with the land and make meaning out of transnational farming. [flexibility, work, land, crops, transnationalism, agriculture, Brazil, United States]

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“…Recent expansion during the twenty-first century has been driven by the global appetite for meat (soybeans is used as an animal feed source) and the increased purchasing power of consumers in emerging economies such as China (Pinazza, 2007;Silva et al, 2017). Economic and institutional players (e.g., traders, public research agencies) have also influenced expansion of the crop in Brazil, not only by stimulating the increase of soybean planted area but also investing in farm credit, subsidies, logistics and market chains (Steward, 2007;Wesz, 2016). As a result, Brazil has increased the number of soybean producers engaging in this global market, as observed by the exports to China and other countries since 2000s (Silva et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, Brazil has increased the number of soybean producers engaging in this global market, as observed by the exports to China and other countries since 2000s (Silva et al, 2017). Concomitantly, there has been consolidation of private companies developing and marketing seeds, agrochemicals (e.g., fertilizers, pesticides) and dominant in the commodities market (Oliveira, 2016;Wesz, 2016;Westengen et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Soybean Trap: Challenges and Risks for Brazilian Producers

Silva

Batistella

Moran

et al. 2020

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Since the 1970s, Brazilian soybean production has grown rapidly, driven by increasing national and international demand and rising prices. Consequently, soybean production has come to be perceived as an attractive opportunity, with the number of farms producing soybean across the country reaching around 240,000 in 2017. However, producers can become trapped by dependencies on moneylenders, traders and input supply companies, facing so-called' agricultural treadmills'. In this study we undertook interviews with individual soybean producers and representatives of trader companies, producers' associations, the processing industry, government and civil society, and used these data to analyze rural production operations related to the soybean supply chain and to interpret how agricultural treadmills persist in this sector. Based on literature review and fieldwork interviews, we found that producers have been able to add value to their products, but some strategies they use to cope with production costs lead them into high-risk situations. Our findings show that, sectoral (e.g., producers' associations) and collective actions (e.g., farmers' buying groups) are a useful strategy for producers to gain influence and bargaining power against transnational companies and input suppliers compared to acting as an individual within the soybean supply chain. Producers were emphatic that the current soybean business is now much more than just farming activities, and that education and training are highly valuable and important strategies to keep producers in the soybean business and out of traps. These findings are important given the neoliberal context in which individual producers find themselves and which presents challenges that alone they can do little to change. Policies that enable individual producers to make environmentally-and financially-sound agricultural decisions are vital to ensure a sustainable soybean system that does not trap producers in endless cycles of debt and investment.

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Strategies and hybrid dynamics of soy transnational companies in the Southern Cone

Cited by 59 publications

References 33 publications

Using nighttime lights to assess infrastructure expansion within and around protected areas in South America

Using nighttime lights to assess infrastructure expansion within and around protected areas in South America

Farming out of place:

The Soybean Trap: Challenges and Risks for Brazilian Producers

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