Changes in production methods in Tandil area in Argentina

Abstract

The pampa territorial transformations are focused on changes in rural land use, marked by the decline of livestock, and the frequent replacement of traditional crops by soybean production. Competition with crops contrived livestock farms to move, and the extensive production has been replaced by intensive systems, in relation with the emergence of new actors. The incorporation of technology in agriculture caused socio-territorial transformations that restructured the rural areas. The article shows the scenarios of change in the rural-land uses in Tandil, through inquiries focused on the progression of the intensification of produc­tion (soybean, sowing pools, feedlots) and its results: deterioration of natural resources, displacement of production systems, mainly livestock, monoculture hegemony, and expulsion of rural actors. The theoretical framework is based on the analysis of rural areas, built from rural-urban links, to understand these changes and interpret future scenarios. In the methodology we recorded quan­titative and qualitative data through non-structured interviews and compared satellite images of census data (1988 and 2008). As a result, when agricultural profitability and the number of soybean plantations were very high, investment opportunities in other economic sectors were less attractive. Financial, non-ag­ricultural and transnational capital thus progressed along the production chains. These investments have been brought via pools of seeds and feedlots, which now control the crop and livestock systems. The new intertwining functions, hierarchies and powers positioned themselves in the local production chain, also globalized in time and space.