The politico‐ecological economy of neoliberal agribusiness: displacement, financialisation and mystification

Abstract

The intricacy of global agri-food business today is, at once, product and also co-producer of the hegemonic modernisation of capitalism according to the discourse and the strategies of neoliberalism. The expansion of neoliberal agribusiness, situated in the wider context of the politico-ecological economy of contemporary capitalism, is considered with the assistance of an original analytical framework structured around three explanatory categories: displacement (sectoral and spatial transformations), financialisation (the priority of making money over agriculture outcomes) and mystification (dissimulation of the neoliberalising trends and of associated risks and disputes). The proposed analytical framework has significant implications for research in human geography, especially within politicoeconomy and neoliberalism studies, to the extent that it encapsulates interdependent processes that are together responsible for the revitalisation of agribusiness and for the legitimisation of global agrifood markets. The framework is then used to highlight the historico-geographical repercussions of neoliberalised agribusiness in Brazil, which was an element of the conservative responses to the crisis of accumulation caused by the exhaustion of developmentalist policies and state-led entrepreneurialism. Brazilian agribusiness seems to thrive on a peculiar combination of tradition and modernity, as its apparent success betrays a clear attempt to temporarily placate the structural contradictions of capitalist agriculture while tensions and reactions become increasingly evident.The information, practices and views in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

Socio-Ecological Implications of Soy in the Brazilian Cerrado

“…Monsanto, Amaggi, Cargill), technological production methods, irrigation, agribusiness policy, growth and sustainable development. Analysis of these key themes form what is essentially a review of Brazil's agricultural, social and environmental policies [51] as they relate to the Cerrado.…”

“…Ongoing examination of the environmental stressors the Cerrado faces are of crucial importance in order to understand what is necessary to ensure its socioecological survival. Investigations into hydrological instability, safeguards for human health and wellbeing, and the deepening of discourses that critique the global free market food system and interrogate the culture of agro-extractivism are all essential to decouple discussions of sustainability from an economic model dependent on perpetual growth [39,44,50,51]. This refocusing of development discourse must also include strategies whereby government and corporate entities are legally compelled to act in the capacity of socio-environmental stewards over the lands and waters that they use and control.…”

Beyond Agriculture: Alternative Geographies of Rural Land Investment and Place Effects across the United Kingdom

“…In terms of the various spectrums of impact and embeddedness, much of the literature relating to 'land grabs' reveals low levels of embeddedness and primarily negative impacts within communities. Global agribusiness in particular has been criticised for its impacts on communities when arable land is turned into energy crops [17] and when investors are seen as 'appropriating the vision of the human right to food' [18] (p. 59) through corporate regimes of food production, prioritising profit maximisation in the shorter term [19]. Much of the existing literature dealing with these land grabs is focused on Africa, where significant investment has resulted in agrarian restructuring and in conflicts with landowners and communities over land and water.…”

“…The paper considered the various processes at play that are stimulating investment into rural locations: the dynamics of the international financial markets [5,7,19]; the pursuit of alternative, diversifying, profit-generating real estate assets [6,8,14]; mediating risk and return [5]; uncertain neoliberal political and economic circumstances [12,22]; the drive towards restructuring, innovation, and entrepreneurialism in farming; and tourism and leisure opportunities [63,72,73]. Although each case study is unique, and of diverse scale and scope, they are also inherently similar: each reflects a direct investment that has had a transformative impact on land use, and has emerged through processes of financing rather than financialisation.…”

Places of Agribusiness: Displacement, Replacement, and Misplacement in Mato Grosso, Brazil

“…The soybean‐based economy was, and continues to be, constantly portrayed by sector representatives as a fine expression of technological efficiency and administrative know‐how, which is used as undisputed evidence that rational, high‐tech rural development works (as analyzed by Chase in the nearby State of Goiás and by Brannstrom and Brandão in the north‐eastern state of Bahia). The sector representatives claim that technified agribusiness replaced a tradition of chaos, incompetence, and turbulence typically associated with previous rounds of economic development in the Amazon with a new socio‐spatial reality based on rationalism, knowledge, and competence (Ioris ). The argument demonstrates what can be described as the “narcissism” of the agricultural frontier, in which self‐constructed declarations of heroism and of unquestionable achievements—mainly by large‐scale farmers—serve to fulfil a prophecy of success and the triumph of the new configuration of places brought to the region.…”