A modernização da agricultura em Soledade-RS entre 1960 e 1990 : transformações econômicas e socioambientais

Abstract

The process of modernization of agriculture in the municipality of Soledade-RS, was part of a broad context of changes resulting from technical and scientific advances that occurred after the Second World War. Implemented in Brazil from the second half of the 20th century, modernization created a new way of producing for the agricultural sector, reaching the local spheres. This model was based on the introduction of new technologies for agriculture such as mechanization, the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and hybrid seeds and aimed at increasing production and productivity. The Brazilian State played a dynamic role, subsidizing agriculture and directing public policies for the sector. The spatial clipping is the municipality of Soledade, in Rio Grande do Sul, where the trajectory of the modernization of agriculture produced important economic and socio-environmental impacts such as the gradual increase in the use of machines and inputs, the advance of farming areas over native fields and forests and the progressive disaggregation of small rural properties that contributed to the increase in the rural exodus. The time frame of the dissertation focuses on the period from 1960 to 1990, having as research problem: What were the economic and socio-environmental changes that the modernization of agriculture generated in Soledade/RS, between the years 1960 and 1990? In this context, the objective of the research was to analyze the transformations resulting from the process of modernization of agriculture in Soledade-RS. The research uses the conceptual frameworks of Environmental History, having as research sources the IBGE Agricultural Censuses, newspapers, documentation from Emater, the Municipality of Soledade, the Union of Rural Workers of Soledade and interviews with farmers, agricultural technicians and agronomists. As for the methodology, it seeks to reconstruct the history of local agriculture using discourse analysis and Oral History. It concludes, preliminarily, that the agricultural modernization process promoted changes in the productivity indexes of export crops, helped to change the configuration of subsistence crops and stimulated the increase in the use of agricultural inputs and machinery. It identified various socio-environmental problems, associated with the spread of pesticides and intensive use of the soil. It also infers that there were economic gains with increased productivity, but this did not mean that development and progress were within reach of all inhabitants.