Urban functions and agribusiness: an analysis from Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

Recognizing Brazil's contemporary position in the international division of labor, this text evaluates the different urban functions associated with agribusiness, that is, agricultural production aimed at the expanded accumulation of capital, oriented by the external market and coordinated by global agents. Long characterized by its demand for increasingly specific urban functions, the agribusiness is now capable of further complicating the functions of some non-metropolitan cities in Brazil, which have recently taken on new strategic tasks, especially those related to the remote control and management of productive activities – work that, until recently, was partly dispersed across the national territory and partly concentrated in metropolitan areas. Recent technological developments (such as digitization practices), as well as the constant and pressing need to reduce costs in order to enhance corporate competitiveness, are defining factors in this process. The case of Uberlândia, in the state of Minas Gerais, seems emblematic and was adopted as an empirical example for this research.