Neoliberalism in Latin American agriculture

Abstract

The current model of accumulation in the countryside is the result of transformations in the relationship between capital and international division of labour. The process of modernization that limits small and medium size production without affording alternative to subsist has affected the land-and-cattle industry. The process of "unpeasantization" does not automatically lead to proletarianization. Rather, it brings hardship to most rural inhabitants. The challenge which remains is to construct a more favourable setting that allows producers to participate in an inclusive, non-authoritarian and self-sustained modernization.