As transformações socioambientais provocadas pela modernização da agricultura no norte do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

The process of modernization of agriculture in the region cut out for study intensified from the 1960s with the strong intervention of the state and the adoption of a widespread technological package in some parts of the world. With subsidized rural credits, economic incentives and investments in structure and transportation, the region began to gain notoriety due to agricultural development. Throughout this process, several environmental impacts related to deforestation, degradation and contamination of soil, water resources and air were perceived. Socioeconomic impacts were also observed, such as the rural exodus, the decrease in the job offer in the countryside, the deepening of social inequalities, the uncontrolled growth of the cities, the development of the economy and the municipalities, among others. In this context, the present work seeks to understand the environmental and socioeconomic impacts most significantly related to the expansion of agricultural modernization. The research seeks to understand the social and environmental transformations introduced by the modernization of agriculture in the north of Rio Grande do Sul, where the municipalities of Carazinho and Not-Me-Toque are currently located. This regional approach is articulated with the global process of agricultural transformations and needs to be understood in this context. The time frame begins shortly before the peak of the modernization of agriculture in the region, which occurred around 1960 and extended until the 1990s. The research employs the conceptual and methodological frameworks of Environmental History and uses as sources: surveyor maps , iconographic material, newspapers and also oral sources, such as: testimonials from agronomists, loggers and farmers who experienced such a process of modernization of agriculture. It can be concluded, preliminarily, that the main social and environmental changes were the deforestation to open new agricultural areas and the contamination of the environment by the use of agrochemicals, rural exodus, among others. From this perspective, it is clear that, on the one hand, agricultural modernization that generated economic growth, income, structural improvements and development did not prevent, on the other hand, the generation of significant environmental impacts for the region under study.