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Feminist scholarship regards the Western scientific revolution and twentiethcentury agricultural modernization as patriarchal endeavors and technoscientific regimes as entangled in societal interests and politics. In this article, I engage with these perspectives by focusing on women scientists working in Brazil’s leading agricultural sciences organization, Embrapa. My analysis draws on life history interviews with three women, juxtaposing their personal and career trajectories with the history of the organization, which is a symbol of the triumph of science over nature. Besides filling the gaps in a male-dominated history, these women’s accounts reveal what I argue to be feminist struggles for more equitable and pluralistic agricultural sciences and practices. I refer to them as “fringe heroines” as they adopt research agendas that are at odds with the prevailing technoscientific paradigm and often find themselves subject to condescending attitudes and discrimination. These fringe heroines experienced a short-lived moment in the limelight during a period of progressive politics in Brazil. However, confronted by a less favorable context during the Bolsonaro era, they have taken a step back but have maintained their resolve to swim against the tide in their unyielding quest for justice and diversity with respect to agricultural knowledge production. The time is ripe for reflecting on the place of their situated struggles and knowledges in the past, present, and future of Brazilian agricultural sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the impact of agribusiness on the politics of legislative elections in Brazil. The central argument is that social contexts dominated by agribusiness tend to amplify the number of right‐wing micro‐parties, due firstly to the economic interests prevalent in such regions and secondly given the 'catch all' nature of Brazil's traditional right and centre‐right political parties. By showing how agribusiness favours the proliferation of small parties, we may also reveal one of the main reasons behind the 'hyperfragmentation' of Brazil's party system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Green Revolution, the management of agrochemicals has become a cornerstone of agriculture, allowing it to expand over terrestrial ecosystems previously deemed unsuitable for cultivation. Such expansion altered the connectedness of aquatic habitats to organisms with complex life cycles by increasing the number of temporary ponds in interfluves. Here, we investigate how spatial isolation and intensification in the use of agrochemicals can interact to increase or decrease the permeability of agricultural fields to these organisms by affecting community structure in temporary ponds.We carried out a field experiment that simulates realistic scenarios of agrochemical contamination at different levels of spatial isolation. We constructed 45 1200‐L artificial ponds in a Savanna landscape in Brazil at three distances from a source wetland (30, 120, and 480 m). The ponds were spontaneously colonized by aquatic insects and amphibians and treated with no agrochemicals (control), fertilizers (as in managed pastures) or fertilizers and a single pulse of the insecticide fipronil and the herbicide 2,4‐D (as in sugarcane fields) following realistic dosages and application schedules.Communities treated only with fertilizers generally exhibited a higher abundance of aquatic insects at the peak of the rainy season, suggesting that fertilization caused bottom‐up effects. However, because low spatial isolation and fertilization favoured different predatory taxa, their insect prey eventually became less abundant in less isolated fertilized ponds. Communities treated with fertilizers and pesticides diverged strongly from other treatments after the application of the insecticide, when a decrease in insect abundance indirectly benefitted amphibian populations. In this case, spatial isolation delayed the recovery of the abundance of several herbivore and detritivore insects in isolated ponds.Synthesis and applications. These results have direct consequences for the emergence of insects and amphibians, possibly affecting important ecosystem services. Such consequences can be controlled by avoiding agrochemical contamination at the peak of most taxa reproductive season or through changes in spatial isolation by deliberately constructing wetlands in interfluves. In all cases, the effects of agrochemicals and isolation must be addressed jointly for a successful management of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture's Energy: The Trouble with Ethanol in Brazil's Green Revolution. By Thomas D. Rogers. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2022. Pp. 287. $29.95 paper.By Jay DwyerReported by Author [Extracted from the article]

Having transformed its hinterland to become a major exporter of agricultural commodities, Brazil has, since the mid-2000s, set up a range of South-South cooperation (SSC) initiatives to export its agri-food policies and technologies to other countries, mainly in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. Both the domestic agricultural policies and SSC have been scrutinised and shaped by interactions with civil society actors, from peasant associations and trade unions to rights-based non-governmental organisations. This article explores modes of interaction and interdependence between different civil society and state actors in the context of SSC relating to food security and agricultural development. It analyses changes and continuities in civil society engagement, and mobilisation and de-mobilisation dynamics. Recently, the government's de-prioritisation of the South-South agenda has been accompanied by very limited civil society activism. The article discusses why this needs attention and the challenges that need to be considered to reinstate productive state-civil society dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global agri-food systems come under increasing stress, debates on their future have become highly polarised, exposing fundamental differences in understandings and priorities: industrial production versus traditional rights; short-term yields versus longer-term sustainability; cheap versus healthy food. Brazil is at the core of these debates, with the Cerrado being centre stage since the soybean-powered Green Revolution. Accompanied by deforestation, soil degradation, and depletion of water resources, Brazil's agricultural production frontier has now moved northwards into the Matopiba region. This issue of the IDS Bulletin explores the ongoing territorial transformation, considering the violent logics of extraction in frontier zones, the grabbing of nature, and the dynamics of resistance in local and international spheres. Exposing both the material and discursive appropriation experienced by the Cerrado, this issue profiles it as a key site of multi-scalar injustices against people and nature that need to be addressed by efforts to secure more just and sustainable agri-food systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Green Revolution is often seen as epitomising the dawn of scientific and technological advancement and modernity in the agricultural sector across developing countries, a process that unfolded from the 1940s through to the 1980s. Despite the time that has elapsed, this episode of the past continues to resonate today, and still shapes the institutions and practices of agricultural science and technology. In Brazil, China, and India, narratives of science-led agricultural transformations portray that period in glorifying terms—entailing pressing national imperatives, unprecedented achievements, and heroic individuals or organizations. These "epic narratives" draw on the past to produce meaning and empower the actors that deploy them. Epic narratives are reproduced over time and perpetuate a conviction about the heroic power of science and technology in agricultural development. By crafting history and cultivating a sense of scientific nationalism, exceptionalism, and heritage, these epic narratives sustain power-knowledge relations in agricultural science and technology, which are underpinned by a hegemonic modernization paradigm. Unravelling the processes of assemblage and reproduction of epic narratives helps us make sense of how science and technology actors draw on their subjective representations of the past to assert their position in the field at present. This includes making claims about their credentials to envision and deliver sustainable solutions for agriculture into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa, is well known for incorporating the Cerrado into Brazil's modern agriculture through its discoveries of how to improve infertile soils and to develop soybean seeds adapted to the tropics. Known as the Tropical Revolution, Brazil's own Green Revolution, this past episode continues to define Embrapa's identity and Brazil's agricultural science and technology, reinforcing a view of agricultural development while neglecting alternatives. Purpose: This article seeks to understand how Embrapa has carved its name in Brazil's agricultural history, creating a powerful national brand with global recognition. It explores what constitutes Embrapa's "organizational heritage," how this has been built within the organization and to what effect. Approach and methods: To commemorate Embrapa's 40th anniversary in 2014, an official history ("Memória Embrapa") was written, focusing on the success of the organization and the reasons for this. This source has been reviewed, then combined with evidence from interviews with 29 Embrapa researchers about the strengths and shortcomings of organizational heritage. Findings: Embrapa's story of success focuses on selected technological breakthroughs, highly trained and motivated scientists, and a sense of mission towards Brazilian society. This omits, however, some successes, challenges and alternative approaches to research that do not fit well with the simplified history. Three such omissions stand out: (1) the official history barely mentions the concerns about the environmental and social impacts of the spread of large‐scale farming—which much of Embrapa's research had served; (2) Embrapa created a national seed bank, to which indigenous groups demanded access since they had conserved much of the genetic material in the bank (policy was changed to allow indigenous groups access and to promote a dialogue between the scientists and the farmers); and (3), in similar vein, some scientists in Embrapa endeavour to engage with local expertise, with ethnoscience, to enrich and broaden the research. Policy implications: Rooting Embrapa's brand in history makes the narrative persistent and hard to challenge. This risks creating a simplified, monolithic narrative about Embrapa and Brazilian agriculture that feeds technocratic fixations with high science and transfer of technology as the dominant pathway to agricultural development and food security. This may have been considered necessary in the 1970s, but increasingly the agricultural research agenda must include environmental sustainability and conservation of agricultural biodiversity, climate change, social fairness and a respectful engagement with different ways of researching, including learning from the longstanding practices of farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Retratos de Assentamentos is the property of Revista Retratos de Assentamentos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Eutopía: Revista de Desarrollo Económico Territorial is the property of Eutopia: Revista de Desarrollo Economico Territorial and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Several developing countries have become world leaders in the field of renewable energy, of which China, but also Brazil and India stand out. This research paper focuses on the positions they occupy in the world rankings of hydro, wind, solar and bio energy capacities, as compared to the developed countries. At the same time, the investigation points to specific catalysts or, on the contrary, deterrents of the "green revolution" in the developing world. Hydropower is the most important form of renewable energy in all the three countries included in this evaluation. It is underscored that China is the first one in each of the four world rankings, taking into account the total installed capacity of renewable energy: hydro, wind, solar and bio. It is also the largest investor in renewable energy capacity worldwide. Brazil ranks second as regards hydropower and bioenergy capacities, while India ranks fourth in wind and bioenergy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Brazilian Journal of Law & International Relations / Relações Internacionais no Mundo is the property of Relacoes Internacionais no Mundo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The use of pesticides has intensified with agricultural modernization process, triggered by the Green Revolution, which brought about changes in the production system, resulting in high social costs, environmental and public health. Brazil is the world's largest consumer of pesticides and assesses that this market will grow even more in the near future. Given the risk that pesticides pose, it was found that there is an urgent need to intensify the studies, as are scarce research in the Northeast and especially in western Bahia. This research aimed to evaluate the scientific literature on pesticides in West of Bahia. Therefore, publications consultation was made in the database Portal.periodicos.Capes with the keywords "West of Bahia" and "Pesticides". The results show that the number of worldwide publications has been growing over the years, representing 98% of the total, while Brazil has only 2% in West of Bahia was not found publication. There are many challenges in front of the dimension that the theme "pesticide" offers. Thus, priorities and strategies for research should be defined, seeking to boost scientific productivity in an attempt to make changes to help chart a way to sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agronomists in most parts of the world are already, and will be increasingly in the next couple of decades, solicited to resolve pressing issues associated with global climate change and food security. For a number of reasons, it is most likely that in both of these areas, their research will be very tightly linked to what happens in Brazil. In that context, this chapter attempts to offer as complete a picture as possible of the events and influences that have shaped historically both Brazilian agriculture and its agricultural research efforts, as well as their relationships with other sectors of Brazilian society. An account is provided of the history of Brazilian agriculture and of the initially slow, then extremely rapid development of the agricultural research sector. This chapter also analyzes in detail the present contributions of agriculture to the economic and social consolidation of Brazil, describes the main actors of research and technological development, discusses the effect of agricultural production and expansion on the environment, tries to identify the various forces that are influencing Brazilian agriculture in the future, and lists the main challenges that will have to be faced in the future of Brazilian and world agriculture. Throughout the chapter, we try to make clear how Brazilians interpret as half-truths a number of statements commonly made about Brazilian agriculture, and how they see their agriculture evolve in the foreseeable future, with a discourse that often differs substantially from the one commonly put forth by the media or even scientists elsewhere in the world. This analysis results in the description of a proposed national agricultural policy that attempts to move Brazilian agriculture in the right direction within the context of the nation's economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focusses on mechanical farming technology sponsored by Brazil's South-South cooperation in Africa. Tractors and matracas are taken as symbols of different agricultural development pathways promoted by Brazilian players. One stark contrast is between high-powered mechanised farming and no-till conservation agriculture. Another is between large-scale agriculture and small-scale family farming. Embrapa, widely known as the champion of the Green Revolution in Brazil, has also encouraged a conservation route and the use of no-till and small-scale equipment, such as matracas. The Brazilian Ministry of Agrarian Development, leading advocate of family farming and of political opposition to large-scale farming, has inadvertently sponsored tractors, feeding a new wave of mechanisation across Africa that overlooks the potential of smaller-scale alternatives. Brazilian actors and their African counterparts have instrumentally deployed technology, and tractors particularly, in the pursuit of their interests, whereas considerations about technological appropriateness to local conditions have hardly played a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the critical geopolitics of knowledge production in Brazil during the 20th century. It offers a critical appraisal of recent calls to decolonize political geography by locating the role played by actors and institutions in the Global South within the broader narrative of the Green Revolution. Historical accounts of the Green Revolution have only recently started to incorporate perspectives of and attribute agency to actors in the Global South. However, Brazil has largely been left out of the geographical scope of the Green Revolution. This article focuses on U.S.-Brazilian geopolitical relations behind an effort to reproduce the U.S. model of higher education, rural extension and agricultural research in Brazil. I argue that the confluence of Brazil's geopolitical importance with opportunities for foreign investment in its agricultural sector brought together U.S. and Brazilian experts and expertise to modernize Brazilian agriculture. The case of transnational soybean research illustrates the importance of this relationship in transforming Brazil's agricultural sector and limiting alternatives. This article offers an account of how the geopolitics of knowledge production shape the long-term institutional legacies of national research institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major pillar of Via Campesina in Brazil, the Landless Workers' Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra - MST) political platform combines land reform and agro-ecology, claiming for a profound change in the hegemonic agriculture model in the country, hoisting the food sovereignty'flag. However, this was not a linear trajectory. Focusing on events that took place in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the birthplace of the MST, this chapter aims to analyse the different path followed by MST there in order to consolidate the 'conquered' settlements. The organization approached, initially, a network of technicians and social organizations critics of the technological package of the Green Revolution in Brazil. Afterwards, choose to support the deployment of conventional agriculture in the agrarian reform settlements, prioritizing collective organization of labour through cooperatives of production, practicing an agriculture based in the intensive use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers and commercial seed varieties. Thanks to the growing international connections of the MST, that paved the way for the creation of Via Campesina, and to the proximity to 'militant technicians' coming mainly from the agronomy student movement, in the end of the 1990s, MST resumed its dialogue with alternative agriculture strands, particularly with agro-ecology, campaigning for an agriculture based on principles of environmental conservation and valorization of the peasant way of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

ABSTRACT The Araguari River is located in the central uplands of Brazil. Over the past 40 years, the region has undergone considerable change in its economy because of the green revolution and urban development that followed the construction of Brasilia in the 1960s, the new capital of Brazil. The main changes in the landscape were the construction of two hydroelectric power plants across the main valley, resulting in ~95 per cent loss in the natural features of the lower 200 km of the Araguari course. The inundation of the river valley has dramatically modified the landscape, with submersion of many locations, especially gorges, islands as well as tributary valleys and historic sites. The concept of geodiversity implies that abiotic elements of nature have unique qualities that are not uniformly distributed and include geomorphic, geologic and pedologic qualities within the context of their location. The concept of geodiversity is used to understand and assess losses from the Araguari River Valley landscapes. In this research, we present the total quantity of geosite types occurring for our Araguari River Valley study site. Twelve complex sites were identified, with six transformed to simple geosites because of inundation associated with formation of two reservoirs. The major changes caused by river impoundment resulted in a reduction in the richness of geosites and a reduction in their complexity by 50 per cent. The study results find that 14.3 per cent of the original geodiversity was lost after valley inundation. Quantification of changes in geodiversity is essential to comprehensively characterize the environmental impact of dams. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudos Sociedade e Agricultura is the property of Revista Estudos Sociedade e Agricultura and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Industrial production of beef, soybeans, cotton, and biofuels is expanding into the tropical latitudes of South America and may soon reach tropical Africa in the most important agricultural transition since the Green Revolution. This shift is driven by the shortage of land suitable for expansion of cultivation and grazing in the temperate zone, increased global demands for agricultural commodities, the rising price of petroleum, and technological advances. At risk are some of the world's most ecologically and culturally-rich landscapes in the world, such as the Amazon rainforest, the Cerrado woodland complex, and African savannas. A strategy for reducing the negative ecological and social impacts of this transition could harness the rising environmental and social standards imposed by many importers and purchasers of agricultural commodities, similar reforms underway among "Equator" banks, growing corporate governance, and Brazil's prominence in international diplomacy. Integrated certification of commodity sanitation, compliance with rigorous environmental standards, and sound labor practices could become the norm for participation in commodity markets. These reforms in agro-industrial behavior could be reinforced by trade agreements and strategic support from non-governmental organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small farmers' adoption of a production system that allows good insertion and competitiveness in the market has always been a challenge. The conventional system, linked to the green revolution, is influenced by scale and financial capacity and is responsible for many environmental problems. To resolve these issues, the Brazilian government has implemented several policies to encourage organic agriculture, many focused on land reform settlements. Despite these incentives, many settlers continue to exhibit low incomes and productivity. In this light, the objective of this study is to identify the production systems used in the settlements of the Midwest region of Brazil and to verify whether these systems are based on organic technologies and whether there is a relationship between the adoption of these systems and the location of the settlements. Policies best suited to the success of agrarian reform, according to adopted production system, are also assessed. A total of 1162 questionnaires were administered in 54 settlements. Four types of production systems were identified: conventional, organic, organic with low technology, and basic. The basic system (without the use of technologies such as chemical and/or organic inputs, crop rotation, improved seeds, and mechanization) is the most common, regardless of the region. Technified systems (conventional and organic) are mostly used in the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes, where large-scale conventional agriculture predominates. The results also reinforce the need for development policies adapted to the producers. Social assistance can be better adapted for settlers with low-tech systems, while efficient technical assistance as well as production and marketing support policies are of great importance for producers with conventional and organic systems. • Basic system, with low use of technologies, is the most found in settlements. • Settlements in the Amazon biome have greater difficulty in accessing technologies. • Most producers can't survive with agriculture and need social assistance policies. • Conventional system is more frequent than organic system, but both are important. • Conventional and organic producers need support policies and technical assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the plan of the government of Brazil to expand its growing industrial influence in Africa through the provision of projects such as industrial and drug-manufacturing plants. Brazilian President Lula Da Silva says they are ready to work with African leaders to improve their economy particularly in terms of food production and health. Meanwhile, Brazil has implemented its green revolution initiative, construction projects, and will sign specific development agreements.