Desecar, conectar y cultivar. Aportes para el estudio de la expansión del agronegocio en los Bajos Submeridionales, Argentina

Abstract

La actual crisis hídrica y ambiental que atraviesa América Latina, y en particular Argentina, se expresa no solo en cambios en la disponibilidad de agua, la pérdida de biodiversidad y el aumento de eventos climáticos extremos, sino también en una profunda transformación de los territorios rurales. Este proceso, lejos de ser natural o inevitable, debe ser comprendido en el marco de las lógicas del capital -sumergido en un evidente colapso metabólico- y de la reestructuración espacial impulsada por el agronegocio, especialmente en su fase más reciente de expansión hacia nuevas fronteras productivas, generando modificaciones en las formas de uso del suelo. Entre estas modificaciones, los Bajos Submeridionales —una extensa región de humedales que abarca zonas del norte de Santa Fe, sur de Chaco y el noreste de Santiago del Estero— se han convertido en objeto de intervención por parte de proyectos estatales y privados que buscan su "puesta en valor" productiva. En este trabajo abordaremos las transformaciones acontecidas en uno de los humedales más grandes de la Argentina, que reconfiguran relaciones socioterritoriales y modos de vida, a partir del desarrollo de lo que consideramos las tres ingenierías del agronegocio.The current water and environmental crisis affecting Latin America, and Argentina in particular, is reflected not only in changes in water availability, loss of biodiversity and an increase in extreme weather events, but also in a profound transformation of rural areas. This process, far from being natural or inevitable, must be understood within the framework of the logic of capital—immersed in an evident metabolic collapse—and the spatial restructuring driven by agribusiness, especially in its most recent phase of expansion into new productive frontiers, generating changes in land use patterns. Among these changes, the Bajos Submeridionales—a vast region of wetlands covering areas of northern Santa Fe, southern Chaco, and northeastern Santiago del Estero—have become the target of intervention by state and private projects seeking to ‘enhance’ their productive value. In this paper, we will address the transformations that have taken place in one of Argentina's largest wetlands, which are reconfiguring socio-territorial relationships and ways of life, based on the development of what we consider to be the three engineering disciplines of agribusiness.The current water and environmental crisis affecting Latin America, and Argentina in particular, is reflected not only in changes in water availability, loss of biodiversity and an increase in extreme weather events, but also in a profound transformation of rural areas. This process, far from being natural or inevitable, must be understood within the framework of the logic of capital—immersed in an evident metabolic collapse—and the spatial restructuring driven by agribusiness, especially in its most recent phase of expansion into new productive frontiers, generating changes in land use patterns. Among these changes, the Bajos Submeridionales—a vast region of wetlands covering areas of northern Santa Fe, southern Chaco, and northeastern Santiago del Estero—have become the target of intervention by state and private projects seeking to ‘enhance’ their productive value. In this paper, we will address the transformations that have taken place in one of Argentina's largest wetlands, which are reconfiguring socio-territorial relationships and ways of life, based on the development of what we consider to be the three engineering disciplines of agribusiness.