Political ecology of soybeans in South America

Abstract

Soy production fundamentally reshapes entire ecosystems in South America. Simultaneously, it repositions countries in international trade and geopolitical affairs and restructures class relations in their countryside. Current soybean production systems are characterized by extensive mechanization and modernist production practices relying on packages of standardized seeds and agrochemicals. The prevailing flexible production relations encompass small-scale independent producers, fragmented contract farming and land-leasing operations, and transnational vertically integrated corporations that manage mega-farms and entire agroindustrial commodity chains. The flexible production processes also attract various companies operating in the financial, biotechnological, and energy sectors through the integration of livestock feed, vegetable oil, biodiesel, and other industrial markets. Precisely due to this flex-crop framework, soy has expanded dramatically over remarkably distinct ecologies, homogenizing diverse socio-ecological relations in the process. This chapter draws upon empirical narratives from history, geography, and critical agrarian studies, and the rich tradition of Marxist political economy to produce a political-ecological analysis of soybeans in South America. By employing the concept of agroindustrial flexing, the chapter discusses the political economy of “who benefits” and “who does not” from the expansion of soy across South America. Through the concept of neo-nature, the chapter examines not only the environmental impacts of soy production but more fundamentally the production of nature itself through agroindustrialization.