The Soybean Frontier in Rio de Janeiro: New Agribusiness Strategies

This paper analyzes the recent introduction of soybean cultivation in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, seeking to understand the expansion of the soybean production frontier into a region formerly occupied by the sugar/ethanol sector, and highlighting the factors of attraction and any potential contradictions. This article is divided into four parts. In the first, we seek to understand the role of the state, through EMBRAPA, in inducing the recent territorialization of grains in the north of Rio de Janeiro. In the second, we analyze the dispersive nature of soybean production in Brazil and the quest for new areas of expansion, introducing the debate on the centrifugal forces of this grain. In the third, we question the feasibility of soybean production in Rio de Janeiro, taking into account the constraints affecting such production. Finally, we warn of how this new agricultural production could impinge on existing land reform settlements in the region, drawing on the theory of accumulation by dispossession.

Keywords:
Accumulation by dispossession; land control; EMBRAPA; modern agricultural frontier; north of Rio de Janeiro state