Ecosystems and ecosystems benefits. What do farmers value and which are the appropriation strategies they use?

Abstract

In the west of the province of Córdoba (Argentina) deep socio-productive changes are occurring as a consequence of the expansion of the agricultural frontier. Drawing upon a participatory, multiactor and interdisciplinary methodology, the paper analyzes a) how different types of producers perceive and value ecosystems and the Nature’s Contributions to people (NCP) they produce; b) the strategies developed by producers to appropriate the NCP, and c) the role that those appropriations play in the processes of capital accumulation. Regarding NCP valuation, the results show a high heterogeneity. Campesinos identify and value 21 out of 22 NCP; large cattle ranchers (LCR), 7, and large farmers (LF), only 4. The ecosystems where native forests are best preserved offer a higher number of NCP. We observed different perceptions, valuations and uses of the main six ecosystems identified in the region, which are linked to different ways in which nature is appropriated. While campesinos have developed more conservative and broader strategies, the ones followed by LCR and LF are much more acquisitive and focused. The expansion of the agricultural frontier over native forests promotes the conversion of natural capital into economic capital, in favor of the most capitalized producers (i.e., LCR and LF), generating social and environmental liabilities. Such transformations should be understood within the frame of more general economic and political processes, that deepen extractivism, capital accumulation and economic concentration. The new accumulation strategies demand new ways in which the territory is organized, as well as the social acceptance of mainstream narratives that justify and legitimize the expansion of agrarian capital.