The Brazil Institute invites you to a lecture by Antonio A. R. Ioris.

Abstract

The critical importance of export-led agribusiness in Brazil provides a paradigmatic example of the economic configuration and internal contradictions of agro-neoliberalism. Based on qualitative research and three fieldwork campaigns, the presentation will examine recent politico-economic adjustments and early signs of the exhaustion of Brazilian agro-neoliberalism, despite its undisputed hegemony. While the neoliberal agribusiness sector has succeeded in creating a positive image of technological and economic success, the federal government and the wider business community have become highly and dangerously dependent on the export of primary commodities. The Brazilian state has enabled the mobilization of agricultural resources, not for the purpose of domestic food security, but primarily for capital accumulation in national and transnational networks. The experience of Mato Grosso, in the centre of the country, shows that agro-neoliberalism is especially successful at the agriculture frontiers of Brazil because, in the end, it is in itself an economic, ecological and ethical frontier.

Biography

Antonio A. R. Ioris is Senior Lecturer at the School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University. He trained as a political geographer and agricultural engineer and is an international scholar with an extensive research portfolio and numerous articles published in peer-reviewed journals. His main areas of interest are the relationship between environment and development, natural resources management, and controversies related to agriculture modernisation.

This talk, part of the King's Brazil Institute Research Seminar Series, will be followed by a Q&A and wine.