The Soybean Trap: Challenges and Risks for Brazilian Producers
The Soybean Trap: Challenges and Risks for Brazilian Producers
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DOI：
10.3389/fsufs.2020.00012
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发表时间：
2020-02-13
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Millington, James D. A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bicudo Da Silva, Ramon Felipe;Batistella, Mateus;Millington, James D. A.
自20世纪70年代以来，巴西大豆产量迅速增长，国内和国际需求增加，价格上涨。因此，大豆生产被视为一个有吸引力的机会，2017年全国生产大豆的农场数量达到约24万个。然而，生产者可能因依赖放债人、贸易商和投入品供应公司而陷入困境，面临所谓的“农业加工厂”。在本研究中，我们采访了大豆生产者个人以及贸易公司、生产者协会、加工业、政府和民间社会的代表，并使用这些数据分析了与大豆供应链相关的农村生产业务，并解释了农业加工厂如何在这一领域持续存在。基于文献回顾和实地采访，我们发现，生产商已经能够增加其产品的价值，但他们用来科普生产成本的一些策略，导致他们进入高风险的情况。我们的研究结果表明，部门（例如，生产者协会）和集体行动（例如，与作为大豆供应链中的一个个体相比，农民购买团体是生产者获得影响力和与跨国公司和投入品供应商讨价还价能力的有用战略。生产者们认为，目前的大豆业务已经不仅仅是农业活动，教育和培训是让生产者继续从事大豆业务并远离陷阱的非常有价值和重要的战略。这些研究结果很重要，因为个体生产者发现自己处于新自由主义的背景下，这带来了挑战，而仅靠他们自己几乎无法改变。使个体生产者能够做出环境和财务上合理的农业决策的政策对于确保可持续的大豆系统至关重要，该系统不会使生产者陷入无休止的债务和投资循环。
Since the 1970s, Brazilian soybean production has grown rapidly, driven by increasing national and international demand and rising prices. Consequently, soybean production has come to be perceived as an attractive opportunity, with the number of farms producing soybean across the country reaching around 240,000 in 2017. However, producers can become trapped by dependencies on moneylenders, traders and input supply companies, facing so-called' agricultural treadmills'. In this study we undertook interviews with individual soybean producers and representatives of trader companies, producers' associations, the processing industry, government and civil society, and used these data to analyze rural production operations related to the soybean supply chain and to interpret how agricultural treadmills persist in this sector. Based on literature review and fieldwork interviews, we found that producers have been able to add value to their products, but some strategies they use to cope with production costs lead them into high-risk situations. Our findings show that, sectoral (e.g., producers' associations) and collective actions (e.g., farmers' buying groups) are a useful strategy for producers to gain influence and bargaining power against transnational companies and input suppliers compared to acting as an individual within the soybean supply chain. Producers were emphatic that the current soybean business is now much more than just farming activities, and that education and training are highly valuable and important strategies to keep producers in the soybean business and out of traps. These findings are important given the neoliberal context in which individual producers find themselves and which presents challenges that alone they can do little to change. Policies that enable individual producers to make environmentally- and financially-sound agricultural decisions are vital to ensure a sustainable soybean system that does not trap producers in endless cycles of debt and investment.