Agroecological transition and reconfiguration of horticultural work among family farmers in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

In Argentina, family farmers who engage in horticultural production have recently adopted the process of agroecological transition into their work. The process involves organisations, such as the Land Workers’ Union (UTT) cooperative, located in the horticultural belt in the province of Buenos Aires. The case study under analysis shows family farmers’ challenges with the agroecological transition process. These challenges include the reconfiguration of horticultural work, which impacts the skills needed to perform the work; the organisation of work; and the sustainability conditions involved in introducing agroecology as a social-productive model for growing vegetables. We examine start-up and development strategies for the agroecological transition process involving farmers and State agents. Our methodology is qualitative and we rely on semi-structured interviews and observations with family farmers belonging to the UTT cooperative. This paper explores how the process of agroecological transition that family farmers in Buenos Aires implement into their horticultural work affects their production and marketing practices. The primary goal is to explain the unequal evolution of this process. This inequality is particularly evident in the decision-making processes in which farmers engage prior to implementing the agroecological transition. They must consider a host of factors influencing their capacity to innovate and diversify production and sales through short food supply chains. These factors include their land tenure conditions (i.e., be a tenant or owner of the land), their level of economic capital (i.e., their access to greenhouses), and the size of their production. They largely account for the varying speeds at which farmers in this case study implement the process of agroecological transition into their farming.