COMMODITIZATION OF THE RURAL: A METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSITION FROM THE ANALYSIS OF CUT BOVINOCULTURE IN THE REGION OF COREDE MISSÕES OF THE STATE OF RIO GRANDE DO SUL/BRAZIL

Abstract

This research presents a methodological proposal for the interpretation of the commoditization movement of rural production from the analysis of beef cattle farmers in the region of COREDE Missões of the State of Rio Grande do Sul. The objective is to analyze this commoditization movement, which has the homogenizing bias production and product, with regard to their effects and repercussions on the organization of production, work and social relations of beef cattle farmers. It is proposed to build different degrees of commodification of production, in view of the different interrelations that producers maintain with the market, in the different stages of their production process. The applied methodology considered the perspective of the economic and social formation (F.E.S.) elaborated by Milton Santos (1979) and Ploeg (1992), considering regional specificities, productive attributes and mercantile integration, together with 21 cattle producers in the Region of Missões of RS. The analysis was based on the production cycles of beef cattle (breeding, rearing/finishing, breeding/rearing and complete cycle), according to their interrelation with the market, through (greater or lesser) degree of integration or productive commodification. The results suggest that the greater the level of market integration, the greater the segregation of producers to the market, that is, the more integrated and inserted into the market, or the greater their degree of commodification of production, the more connected their productive processes will be, in the logic of global reproduction, linked to the commoditization movement.