Pampas Family Farms and Technological Change: Strategies and Perspectives towards Genetically Modified Crops and No- Tillage Systems

CRAVIOTTI, CLARA

International Journal of the Sociology of Agriculture and Food

Año: 2002 vol. 10 p. 23 - 30

The aim of this paper is to analyse the strategies of family farmers towards the new technological “paradigm” in the Pampas region, consisting in  no tillage and transgenic crops, and to state some social consequences related with its expansion. The paper is based on a case study on family farmers carried out in Junín, an area situated in the north-west of the province of Buenos Aires. In a second stage, the study involved  the fulfilment of  in-depth interviews  with  chosen farmers, to explore issues related with the adoption of new technologies. In this regard, the degree of adoption depending on the types of family farmers considered (low resources, capitalised and entrepreneurial), the strategies they perform to adopt them, and the actors’ perspectives towards these new technologies were analysed. The article ends considering the viability of farmers’ strategies taking into account the context in which they are implemented,  and proposing some subjects for future research in this area.