Agro-neoliberalism and agricultural financialization in Brazil: the land grabbing case in agribusiness

• Grant number: 22/13959-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: February 01, 2023
• End date: July 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Abid Castillo
• Grantee: Ernesto Etulain
• Supervisor: Antonio Augusto Rossotto Ioris
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Cardiff University, Wales
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/10486-4 - Competitive strategies and land grabbing in the MATOPIBA region: the case of Radar Propriedades Agrícolas S/A and its local social implications, BP.MS

Abstract

Land grabbing is associated with the agricultural competitiveness paradigm inserted into the context of the post-financial 2007/2008 crisis. Defined as large-scale land acquisition by means of financial capital, the phenomenon emerged as a diversified strategy for capital reproduction, following a North-South logic of land control by introducing the most recent technologies and implementing services aimed at improving production on under productive lands, from the viewpoint of the investors. In Brazil, through the case of a company called Radar Propriedades Agrícolas S/A it is possible to analyse and describe the modus operandi of the companies that are associated with the phenomenon. The integration of financial capital into areas characterized as "agricultural frontiers" has resulted in increased profit for private sector investments while rural communities, countryside biomes and natural resources have faced deforestation, increasing inequalitis, spoliation and rural conflicts. The hypothesis is that the modernization of rural areas is, at the same time, selective and conservative, indicating investments that are more interested in increasing profits than fighting against inequalities. The objective of this project is to identify, analyse and understand the modus operandi of land grabbing, following the precepts of critical geography, aiming to comprehend the economic and social impacts for Brazilian development, which requires an understanding of how important the agricultural sector is for wealth production. (AU)