Genetically Modified Agriculture and Variations of Violence in Argentina

• In Event: Neoliberalismo y transformaciones agroalimentarias en Latinoamérica El impacto de los transgénicos I

Abstract

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and archival research, this paper examines different types of violence brought about by the sweeping expansion of genetically modified (GM) crops in Argentina. GM soybeans were first sowed in export-oriented regions of the country in 1996 and began to expand to the north around 2002. I present cases from three Argentine provinces exemplifying three forms of violence used to quell dissent over the negative socio-environmental effects of the GM “soybean rush” in Argentina. The first case illuminates subtle but powerful forms of violence in the province of Formosa, combining issues of agrochemical drift, the undermining of local food production, and the subsumption of peasants into transgenic agriculture. This case exposes the effects of symbolic violence and economic coercion linked to the expansion of GM crops. The second case in the province of Santiago del Estero involves direct and deadly violence, pitting thugs hired by agribusiness companies against organized peasants. This case highlights processes of accumulation by dispossession regarding land conflicts and the disputes over territory. The third case of Córdoba province exposes the effects of agrochemical drifts that contaminate the air and water and affect the health of inhabitants of rural towns and the outskirts of cities. In this province, contentious collective actions were met with informal, clandestine violence when demonstrators were attacked by thugs linked to a construction union in a dispute about the installation of a GM seed plant.

Author

• Pablo Lapegna, University of Georgia