Soybean growing and the expansion of the agricultural frontier in the province of Chaco in the first decades of the 21st century

Abstract

From the second half of the decade 1990, the western region of the province of Chaco has been the context of relevant production changes, triggered by local issues resulting from the cyclical crises manifested by the cotton crop, which has had a negative impact on the economy of the province, especially on the small producers from the centre and the southeast of Chaco. The process of structuring this space was accompanied by stage of “repampeanización” of the local agricultural production through the insertion of, as a new agricultural-commercial alternative, the soybean crop. The spatial expansion of this oilseed was produced at first with the occupation of lands once sown to cotton, then they occupied more and more territory with the expansion of the agricultural frontier (from the point of view of a permanent dynamic of native woods deforestation) towards the southeast and west of the province. The present study analyses the production changes manifested in the field of study, paying attention to the constant growth of the area sown to soybean. Likewise, the aim is to measure the impact of this production since its permanent advancement over the local forest. The data was taken from agricultural statistics and forest reports which were represented in graphs. The information gathered from bibliography and documents is also analysed together with the interviews to key informants.