Agribusiness and the new logics of business representation in the Southern Cone. An exploratory study about ABAG (Brazil) and AAPRESID (Argentina)

Abstract

Throughout the 1990s, the consolidation of the agribusiness model produced significant changes in the agrarian social structure in Brazil and Argentina, which had an impact on the institutional plan, changing the way the classes organize themselves and defend their interests. This paper aims to reflect, on the way in which the dominant clases of Brazil and Argentine are represented and the strategies they use in the construction of agribusiness hegemony in their respective countries. For this purpose, dialoguing with Gramsci, a comparative analysis was carried out between the case of the Associação Brasileira do Agronegócio (ABAG) and the case of Associación Argentina de Productores en Siembra Directa (AAPRESID).
Through bibliographic review and analysis of the main institutional publications related to the two associations, we were able to identify that their foundation responds to a reconfiguration of the dominant clases of each country in their process of insertion in the global agricultural production chains. Therefore, we find not only discursive similarities between ABAG and AAPRESID, but common strategies for organization and political mobilization, configuring a new logic of business representation in Brazil and Argentina.