Expansion of soybean production in the Alto Pantanal/MT microregion, Brazil: conflicts and sustainable perspectives

Abstract

The expansion of soybean monoculture is a recent phenomenon in the microregion of the Alto Pantanal of Mato Grosso. Thus, this article aims to analyze the main driving factors for the expansion of soybeans in the region, identifying the conflicts that emerge from this production and the role of agroecology as a strategy of resistance in the face of  capitalist expansion in the countryside. In the context of this expansion, it is notorious the bifurcation between agribusiness, anchored in the production of grains for the purpose of supplying the world market, and peasant agriculture, focused on the family  production of food, including agroecological, . From the methodological point of view, the approach involves a bibliographic review based on the work of authors who deal with the agrarian issue. The research and use of official data from IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) and INCRA (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) and, mainly, of fieldwork data – interviews conducted with peasants. The expansion of capitalist agriculture has motivated conflicts and  divergences between agribusiness and peasants, manifesting itself in the contamination of the air, soil, nda ir by pesticides; deforestation; among others issues. In the midst of the contradictions  in the context of soybean expansion, the agroecological production practiced by peasants emerges. The geographical section of this study is the microregion of Alto Pantanal/MT, with emphasis on the municipalities of Cáceres and Poconé, which present more significant data of the expansion of this monoculture.