Family-Run Farm Enterprises, Territories and Policies in Argentina

Abstract

Argentina’s agricultural sector has seen an apparent bipolarization following the strengthening of neo-liberal policies and the introduction of transgenic seeds in the 1990s. On the one hand, this has led to the development of the corporate agriculture model. A representative form of this type of agriculture in Argentina is that of the ‘landless entrepreneur’ (Hernandez 2007), who leases several thousand hectares of land in the country (and sometimes even in neighbouring countries) and produces commodities according to capitalist rationales that are highly financialized and minimally territorialized. These corporate farms – often mistakenly confused with ‘sowing pools’ –, bring together capital investors, who are sometimes non-agricultural or non-rural, agricultural engineers and agricultural service contractors. Just like the sowing pools, their minimal territorial anchorage is based on strategies of mitigating climate risk by spreading out their farming locations or on using the agronomic knowledge and social networks of service contractors. In addition to adopting cutting-edge farming techniques and technologies, these entrepreneurs play a proactive role in their dissemination and promotion, which leads them to proudly call themselves ‘knowledge evangelist’ (ibid.). In this way, they forge links with large agroindustries (such as Monsanto) that supply agricultural inputs and equipment, and with the research community (Goulet and Grosso 2013). These agro-industrial entrepreneurs are well represented by Aapresid (Argentine Association of Direct Sowing Producers), an association created in 1989 to promote this new technological model and be an advocate for its values. The Pampean region, the focus of our study, is the region that is most representative of this emerging agricultural model.