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Paper short abstract

How do Argentine agricultural actors in "central" and "peripheral" regions navigate the Mercosur-EU agreement? Ethnographic fieldwork reveals local divergences challenging this framework. Multi-scalar and comparative analysis shows how actors redefine, question and act on unfixed spatial categories.

Paper long abstract

This paper presents initial findings from a research project analyzing negotiations around the Mercosur-EU free trade agreement and its consequences for rural areas. The objective is to examine experiences of vulnerability, uncertainty, and adaptation among agricultural actors facing productive transformations induced by international markets.

The 2025 Argentine fieldwork focuses on two contrasting regions: Buenos Aires, in La Pampa, the "central" historical region of intensive agriculture (soybeans, cattle farming, dairy products); and Salta, a "peripheral" northwestern region integrated into agribusiness through the soybean boom since the 2000s. Salta has undergone a process of "pampeanization", reproducing La Pampa's productivist logic through the integration of financial networks and outsourcing of productive activities.

But what are the local stakes for Argentine productive sectors? Who might benefit from this agreement? The ethnographic approach reveals that La Pampa is not homogeneous: local divergences highlight the limitations of certain sectors in envisioning increased production aimed at export. In Salta, the decline of soybeans in favor of agricultural diversification is confirmed. Medium-sized producers now favor "specialty" crops that consume less water, targeting the Asian market, considered more profitable than the EU market.

Anticipated effects vary according to actors' geographical and economic positions, between export opportunities and increased vulnerabilities, challenging the central-peripheral analytical framework. Situating both regions within national interdependencies and their potential role in a new international market helps understand how two structurally different positions in the national productive space ("peripheral" and "central") navigate global transformations differently.