Toxicidade e produção de maçãs no sul do Brasil

Jó Klanovicz

doi:10.1590/s0104-59702010000100005

Abstract

The article explores the links between the controversial apprehension of contaminated apples in southern Brazil in 1989 and the reactions of the apple industry to press reports on the use of pesticides in Brazilian orchards. The issue is framed within a broader analysis of the notions of toxicity and 'danger' surrounding the consumption of healthier food and the idea of 'food security,' notions that have begun taking hold in public and private life. It is argued that apple growers' responses to the problem can be better understood through a historical reading of the interactions between the biology of the apple tree, the agroecology of this monoculture, and the structures, actors, and discourses of the human and non-human groups in Brazil's apple-producing region.

Highlights

By 1989, commercial apple production had firmly established itself in Brazil
In Fraiburgo at least, the only available space coincided with what remained of a region of tropical rainforest known as Floresta Ombrófila Mista (FOM), a type of old-growth forest that makes up an important area of the Atlantic Rainforest biome in midwestern Santa Catarina
When they razed what remained of the FOM in the late 1980s, producers in Fraiburgo would run into trouble with fungi that attacked tree roots and with parasites that were often held responsible for a variety of ecological and economic woes, such as the need to destroy orchards and to hold wages down

Summary

Introduction

By 1989, commercial apple production had firmly established itself in Brazil. The industry’s crop of nearly 300,000 metric tons, harvested between February and April, was cause for celebration. Brazilian apple production was concentrated almost wholly in the southern part of the country, in the municipalities of Fraiburgo and São Joaquim, in the state of Santa Catarina, and of Vacaria, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Since the mid-1980s, the industry’s economic success had pushed growers to expand old orchards and plant new ones.

Results

Conclusion