Regional specialization and productionist politics in agriculture vs. the productive and reproductive strategies of social actors. The case of family producers in a cattle raising region on the Argentine pampas
1995
Villafane, A.G. (Universidad Nacional del Centro, Olavarria (Argentina). Facultad de Ciencias Sociales)
This work examines how small producers and their families in the Pampean Plains of Argentina have succeeded in maintaining independence despite defavorable policy and adverse structural conditions. The expansion process of a capitalist means of production on a world level, the integration of the region into the world market and the adoption of a political strategy whose goal is productivist agricultural development, has produced notable regional differences and regional specialization in agricultural activities, marginalizing and breaking up large sector of social actors. In our study area, Blanca Grande, this phenomenon was apparent in the cattle raising industry. Livestock are first raised using poor quality pasture. Later, before they are sent to market, cattle are sold and transferred to better quality pasture for fattening. In this process, "the breeder" (el criador) depends on "the fattening" (el. invernador) to buy his or her product. In this context, small breeders and their families have developed a special way of life which includes complementary urban and rural activities, generating strategies whose objective are family reproduction, production, and furthermore, production of a surplus. A number of adaptive strategies such as wage employment, reciprocal labor exchanges, and urban employment have been adopted, but at the same time rural production activities as a principal means of income have been maintained. The community adapted diffused technological packages as well as proposed productive models, but at the same time incorporated alternative products and conserved food production activities for domestic subsistence. This combination of strategies has made it possible for small producers to maintain themselves in a system which is in critical times.
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