Localized Agro-Food Systems and Patrimonialization Processes in Territories of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina: Possibilities and Contradictions

Abstract

The concept of the Localised Agro-Food System (1998) is the result of numerous scientific debates that point to the worsening of food, environmental problems, and the deepening of the crisis in rural and urban societies. We propose to analyze and characterize institutional and technicals dimensions, focusing on the observation, description, and analysis of local knowledge in two case studies of food heritage processes. The guiding questions were: What is the assumption for generating heritage processes that allow territorial dynamics based on local products? What role do the skills, capacities, and know-how of various actors play in the construction of local food products? What lessons can be learned from the intervention processes to establish regularities, progress, and contradictions? The cases are located in the Pampa region of Argentina and are part of intervention processes promoted by the Universidad Nacional de la Plata, where a significant territorial anchorage of productive activities can be observed. In this sense, some proposals combine formal and informal learning processes and an increase in the capacity for action of producers and consumers, both of which structure the dynamics between tradition and innovation.