From Backwardness to Global Agricultural Powerhouse: The Transition of Brazilian Agriculture

Abstract

This chapter describes the transformation of Brazilian agriculture since the mid-twentieth century, from a first phase, until 1970s, based on incorporating frontier land few improvements in productivity, to a subsequent phase of conservative modernisation up to the early 1990s, in which technological and organisational improvements led to productivity gains, but in which agriculture was subjugated to other economic and political motivations, such as promoting industry and combating inflation. Since the early 2000s a more market-based approach has prevailed, in which Brazil has been able to take full advantage of the extended period of high commodity prices to further increase production, productivity and exports. We discuss how different theories of agricultural development relevant to the Brazilian case explain this trajectory.