CLaSP END OF YEAR PANEL I: CLASSES OF CAPITAL- ‘Business Dynamics and Social-Ecological Change in Latin American Agriculture’
Co-hosted with the Journal of Agrarian Change.
Speakers: Carla Gras (National Council of Scientific and Technological Research of Argentina) will present on the closure of the commodity boom and accumulation cycle in Argentina and Grettel Navas (University of Chile) will present on the cherry crop boom and resulting socio-ecological impacts in Chile.
The individual event blurbs and author bios follow the event details below.
Chair: Liam Campling, QMUL.
NOTE: Event will be hybrid- Graduate Centre, Room 101 (in-person) and MS Teams (online). Access the online meeting here.
Presentation 1: “A time of transition? Accumulation Strategies and Social Differentiation among Agrarian Capitals in Argentina” with Carla Gras
Blurb: Differentiation among capitalist enterprises in agricultural production-considering both their scale and the functions played by individual capitals along commodity value chains-is not always sufficiently acknowledged; this is a relevant feature with implications for agrarian change dynamics and development paths. In Argentina-one of the largest soybean and maize producers in the world-the confluence of economic, social, and environmental constraints on extensive commodity export production in recent years has closed the accumulation cycle that opened at the beginning of the 2000s, a conjuncture where individual capitals seek to sustain or expand their profits. This presentation addresses some of its various implications in terms of property and production relations, and investment patterns within soybean-maize producers, paying attention to intra-capitalist relations and the associated differentiation processes.
About the speaker: Carla Gras is a Senior Researcher for the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research of Argentina (CONICET) in the Interdisciplinary School of Social Studies at the University of San Martín in Buenos Aires. She researches agribusiness expansion, agrarian classes of capital, commodity frontiers, and the financialization of farmland and agriculture in Argentina. She is an editor of the Journal of Agrarian Change.
Presentation 1: “Labour Regimes and Pesticide Exposure in Chile’s Cherry Boom” with Grettel Navas
Blurb: Chile’s recent “cherry boom” has consolidated the country as the world’s leading exporter of fresh cherries, with the Maule Region emerging as a key agro-export territory. While this expansion has generated economic growth, it has also intensified labour precarity, ecological degradation, and public health concerns associated with the growing use of synthetic pesticides. This presentation discusses a research work-in-progress project that examines the cherry industry through the combined lenses of labour regimes and the political ecology of pesticides. It explores how temporary, subcontracted, feminised, and migrant labour arrangements shape agricultural work and produce uneven forms of pesticide exposure. Drawing on a multi-scalar mixed-method approach, including interviews, life histories, participant observation, surveys, and institutional data, the research places workers lived experiences at the centre of analysis.
About the speaker: Grettel Navas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Chile. Her research focuses on environmental conflicts linked to toxic pollution, particularly pesticide exposure in agrarian contexts. After conducting fieldwork in Central America over the past 10 years, she is now interested in understanding the labour dynamics and rural transformation of the cherry production chain in Chile. She earned her PhD in Environmental Science and Technology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) and holds a master’s degree in Socio-Environmental Studies from FLACSO–Ecuador, as well as a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the National University of Costa Rica. Grettel is part of the leadership and coordination team of the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas) and will be visiting CLASP until the end of June.