Research, Technology and Competitiveness in Brazilian Agrarian Activity

Structural changes going on in Brazilian agrarian activity interface with scientific & technological development within the field. The establishment of a new reference in agrarian science & technology is a new possibility for rebuilding consensus around the notion of competitiveness, which brings back labor's positive central role, now linked to individual responsibility & efficiency, perpetuating & deepening differences through unequal access to opportunities. The study includes the conceptual conflict between agroindustries' competitive rationality that prioritizes productivity aimed at accumulation -- recreating forms of submission through political demobilization & by downplaying what is traditional -- & the rationality of those farmers which, through their organizations, prioritize social reproduction, sustainability, & production mode. The opposition between the concept of productivity & that of social reproducibility or sustainability as part of the notion of competitiveness adds to the generation of a resistance culture, especially between family farmers. Instability & decrease in public investments in research & technology, not offset by private ones, compromise Brazilian agrarian activity future competitiveness. 2 Tables, 28 References. Adapted from the source document.