past two years, the local MF of Wheewlright, are organizing a cultural exchange between students from different universities in the U.S., and rural families.
loop occurred through contacts in common between Women Federated Argentinas Alguns teachers and faculties of Agronomy and Veterinary, how teachers and Miriam Silvia Cloquel Trosero. The U.S. organization that provides formal and non formal education to American students have seen in the FAA, the ideal environment to show the family farm in Argentina.
show here, an interesting report Pastrick Woodyeard students and Gean Spektor, who has visited the town of Wheelwright, in March this year.
Wheelwright: The Strong Political Participation in Quiet Village
Wheelwright, Santa Fe, seemed a paradise for the eyes after the chaos and noise of life in Buenos Aires. The town was nothing like we imagined, but even the families who lived there had televisions, cell phones and Internet, Wheelwright preserved all the best characteristics of the field: the laid-back lifestyle, fresh air and relaxed and friendly neighbors . We thought it an idyllic place like that, I could think about politics ... but the truth was that one of the most debated issues that the neighbors wanted to talk was a very political issue: unemployment. So we knew when we left Buenos Aires for Wheelwright, a crowd of farmers in all provinces, including some of our friends and families of Wheelwright, left the field to protest the federal capital that week. When we were in Santa Fe, most of the field was again involved in a strike that resulted from the deep conflict between the federal government and farmers, which has more than one year. The fight with the government and political organization of the field occupied a great deal of time and energy of families, especially women, who speak in Wheelwright. Therefore, we want to discuss this unexpected side country life, and especially the lives of small producers Wheelwright - the political - in our test. Most of our trial will focus on the current unemployment to capitalize on our own experiences and field work.
The roots of current conflicts between the government and agricultural producers are in the early years of the Kirchner government, which was the first president to impose withholding tax on exports primary products. The withholding tax is a way for producers, which now allows the government to withhold 35% of pay for los exportaciones de los agricultores. El gobierno afirma que los retenciones están apuntados a los productores grandes y se desalientan la sojización (el paso de concentración de producción de soja en agricultura Argentina, que es peligrosa para la economía debido a alto riesgo de concentración en un sector y para el medio ambiente). Sin embargo, en realidad los retenciones todavía no son móviles, y entonces duelen más a los productores pequeños y medianos para quienes los gastos no son tan desplegados. También, ellos cubren no solo la soja, pero todos los exportaciones primarias, incluyendo el carne y la harina, y por eso promueven la sojización, lo que vamos a explicar abajo en más detalle.
The first problems between the government and the country began on March 11, 2008, when the economy minister, Martin Lousteau, has announced further increases to the withholding, had tried to elevate from 35% to 45% for soybeans and implement other changes. That triggered what some called "the most serious political crisis that had faced the Kirchner government in five years." (Cota, p 4) The field, represented by the union of four of the largest associations of farmers, responded with a statement a strike and cut off the routes used to transport agricultural products. Initially, the strike was a huge success with the population, which sympathized with injustice, and thousands of people stormed the streets of Buenos Aires to show their support for the farmers. The government and the country sliding tax discussed and seemed to be moving toward an agreement.
Unfortunately, before one or two months, the tide of public opinion changed, when unemployment was empty store meat and other agricultural products. The government promoted these senses in people and accused the field of selfishness and stubbornness unnecessary. The strike lasted for four months, "until the early hours of July 17 when Vice President Julio Cobos was positive and ended its not the sliding tax" (Lopez, p. 1). The field is not completely lost, and the retention remained at the level of 35%, but could not enough for a fight so hard and difficult.
So it was natural when, four days before our arrival in Wheelwright, unemployment began again. This year with the global crisis, which worsened the situation of many Argentines, had a negative effect the profitability of agricultural exports in general and soybeans in particular. A terrible drought, the most horrible in more than fifty years in some regions of Argentina increased the situation. Federación Agraria Argentina (FAA), the Rural Society and the Confederation of Rural Argentina joined New to require a sliding tax system and reduced. Now the request is for zero deductions for producers of less than 1000 tons, and deductions adjusted to the amount of production after this level. This arrest, however, is much less fighting than last year, and is not marketing - harvesting, but not sell the crop - rather than the lack of crops and short routes. It is also characterized by many internal tensions between producers of different sizes and different provinces, especially among those who were affected by drought and those without.
To understand the conflict between the government and country, a person needs to understand the role of small producers. In deciding whether a (a) producer is classified as a small or medium producers need to know the size of their land, crop type, production region, and the characteristics of ownership of their own land. The truth is that these figures are adjustable because more than anything, the classification of a farmer depends on the extent of crop yields. For example, in a very dry region, a (a) small producers may have more land and less yield than in Santa Fe, for example, while classified as a small producer. In addition, small corn producers must have less land than soy because the yields of maize a hectare is ten tons, while the yield of soybean is four tons.
Another very important factor in the classification of small producers is whether they are owners or renters. Obviously, those that are renters can have more land and still be classified as small producers. Today, for soybean producers in the province of Santa Fe, a person is a (a) small producer if he or she is the owner of his lot and is less than 100 hectares. However, if a person rents his lot, is classified as a small producer if less than 200 hectares.
Most of the farmers we met were rented. Also, most were Italian and English. This concerns us because we learned that this is part of the history of the region. People in this region were rented land for more than a century and many were immigrants from Spain and Italy ( Cloquell, Silvia 2007).
While unemployment was developing, we had a wonderful opportunity to share the experience of families landholders and learn their point of view of the situation. A multitude of things we taught the interview with Monica Polidoro, the National Federation of Women Federated Agraria Argentina, and our "mother" Eve. The FAA is basically a union of small and medium agricultural producers, who have 50-300 acres, depends on several factors. The FAA focus on many things, but the issue of retention is a huge debate now. FAA's motto is "Agriculture for farmers" and promoted the right of the farmers to live off the land, as opposed to large farmers and seed the lungs, which are non-farmer investors enormous. So the FAA is coupled with criticism from organizations representing larger farmers because some people think that it betrays the main idea of \u200b\u200bthe FAA.
The women seemed more involved in agricultural organizations in their daily life due to not work outside their homes, which allows for free working for different organizations that the FAA supports. But both women and men were very interested in the current situation, and every dinner we gather in front of the television to hear the news about unemployment. Also, spend time with agronomist and secondary school teacher, Pablo Gutierrez, who lives and works in Wheelwright, as a guide for 3 days during those had multiple interviews with him. Most of our information comes from interviews with Paul.
When we were in Santa Fe, also had the opportunity to attend a meeting of small producers and Wheelwright Colon not affiliated with FAA or any other organization. Other than the middle class and low in Buenos Aires, all the producers had a car, and of course, were trucks. Illustrated again with rural character, everyone was very kind and shared with us mate during assembly. Since it was the week of unemployment, they discussed the conflict and decided they needed to do about unemployment. While some wanted to end the strike because they had debt and needed money to pay, others wanted to keep the strike. Finally, a senator from Buenos Aires province who attended the meeting said the problem of relations between farmers and people of Argentina. The senator said the government hoped it was a conflict between the two groups and that it would allow the government to maintain its power. Therefore, farmers in the region voted to end the strike. That was a decision deployed, like the rest of the country's small producers decided to end the strike as well. Moreover, as we saw a ray of hope in the newspaper today, the government decided to raise some deductions Cordoba for the field (Molina, Gustavo, 2009). The fight is not was won, but was not totally lost again.
Another major concern of the farmers in the Wheelwright, and especially to Paul as an agricultural engineer was the soybean production. When we were in Wheelwright, we learned that although there are many economic and environmental, many growers prefer to plant soybeans because it is the most profitable. That depends on the costs including item price, fertilizer, seeds and insecticide. Paul showed us a comparison between the soybean and corn. To plant soybeans, you need to pay $ 200 and for corn, $ 600. Also, Corn fertilizer is more expensive. Another reason is because farmers prefer to plant soybeans is stronger than the other crops in that it can live with less water and less favorable weather.
Other problems soy, we learned that few large producers have the most profit. As in Brazil, where few farmers produce more than 95% of the soybeans and 60% of the lots are more than 1000 hectares [1] , Argentina, 2% of firms produce more than 50% of soybean yields, and 6 companies export 80% of all soybean exports [2] . That clearly is another bad consequence of inadequate government policies today. The deductions do not necessarily promote soybean production, but do nothing to soothe and promote other crops also. We hope that this will be the next fight for farmers and especially the FAA.
Overall, Wheelwright learned a lot about the history and current situation of small farmers in Argentina. The experience was totally different from our expectations, and returned to Buenos Aires with more hope for the field we had last week. The strong political interest of farmers serves as a tremendous inspiration and hope that they achieved their goals. It also affected us the message of 'agriculture for farmers, "and the need for government to promote ideas how are you, and we'll certainly take these ideas with us throughout our lives.
Interview Questions:
1. "How is the conflict between the government and the country?
2. "Why many people plant soy?
3. "What is the objective of stopping farmers?
4. "What are the main organizations of the conflict?
5. "Who will represent?
6. "How is the FAA and how is it organized?
7. "What the role of women in the field and in the conflict?
8. "How are small producers because they produce soy?
9. "How was the conflict between the government and the 2008 field?
10. "How will be the future of the relationship between government and the country?
11. "How will be the future of small producers?
Bibliografía:
Bymes, Brian. “Argentine Farmers Move to End Strike.” CNN.com 28 marzo de 2008. Date Accessed: 1 abril de 2009
Cassel, Amanda and Patel, Raj. “Agricultural Trade Liberalization and Brazil’s Rural Poor: Consolidating Inequality.” Food First Institute for Food and Development Policy. Policy Brief No. 8. Oakland, California. August 2003.
Cloquell, Silvia (coord.), Roxana Albanesi, Patricia Propersi, Graciela Preda and Monica De Nicola. 2007. "Rural families. The end of a story in the beginning of a new agriculture. "Buenos Aires. Homo Sapiens. Chapter II p. 27-41.
cut him off, Maria Celia. "Social Conflict Chronology. Working Paper 229. " Clacso . Argentina May 2008.
Gonzalo Villanueva "Argentina: Agricultural Strike Suspended." International News, Green Left Weekly # 746 9 April 2008. Date Accessed: April 1, 2009
Lopez, Paula. "The country demands a redoubling of not the start of the conflict with the government. "Chronicler . March 2009.
Molina, Gustavo. "Makes it a gui Schiaretti not to the field and away from Kirchner." Clarion.com March 31, 2009.
