The BR-163 and Mato Grosso region
Since the 1970s the pioneer town at the BR-163 has undergone various economic cycles. Initially the private colonization firm attracted new settlers (majority of the southern states of Brazil) with the idea of growing coffee in the region. Due to the lack of knowledge of specific regional natural conditions (climate conditions and soil quality), coffee cultivation could not prevail. Subsequently, the colonization firm promoted the cultivation of cassava by building an alcohol refinery. But also this project did not bring the desired success to the region. However, spontaneously a booming timber industry emerged, which contributed significantly to the growth of the town in the 1980s and 1990s. The timber industry was an important source of revenue for the region during a period of high deforestation rates. Due to the far-reaching conversion of forestland into pasture and farmland there was plenty of timber for the timber industry available. With increasing scarcity of timber due to severe deforestation in the region and the implementation of a more stringent environmental control (for example, the police operation Curupira, in 2005), the timber industry in Sinop almost came to a halt in the first years of the new millennium. The economic vacuum in the region was filled by the expansion of the (soybean) agribusiness, which is now the dominant economic factor in Sinop.
The regional challenges
- Rapid urban expansion, “winners” and “losers”
- Hydroelectric power plant Teles Pires
- Logistic corridor BR-163 and new railroad project
- Land concentration, disappearance of social rural infrastructure
- New vulnerabilities due to a monostructural economy based on the agribusiness
- Social-ecological transformations
Main questions of past and on-going research
Urban-rural relations
- What are the main structural, functional and territorial changes in rural-urban relations due to the expansion of agribusiness in the study region?
- What are the economic, social, cultural and territorial consequences of the Soy Production Network in urban structures and dynamics?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses, new vulnerabilities, as well as potentials for socio-ecological transformations of rural-urban relations in regions dominated by globally incorporated soy Production Networks?
Expansion strategies of the agribusiness
- What are the expansion strategies of the agribusiness and how is access to land organized?
- What is the logic of action of actors in Agribusiness Production Networks? How important is access to new land for Agribusiness Production Networks?
- What are the characteristics of a territory dominated by the agribusiness? What social-ecological implications go along with an agribusiness development model?