Between Conventionalization and Civic Agriculture: Emerging Trends in the Chilean Agroecological Movement

Abstract

Chile has played a relevant role in neoliberal global food production since the 1980s, using the motto "Chile: An Agro-food Power." Thus, it is relevant to enquire about the exercise of individual and collective citizenship on the part of agricultural producers who attempt to challenge — or at least make a difference — within this dominant economic and productive model. This paper explores the development and current state of the agroecological movement in Chile as an expression of civic agriculture representing a Polanyian countermovement developed by diverse actors against the dominant discourse and practices of the "Chilean agro-food power." Performing a discourse analysis of interviews with agroecological producers in the Bío-Bío region of Chile, the paper discusses the limits of the literature with respect to conventionalization and bifurcation processes for the analysis of the Global South in particular. The paper shows the hybrid and intertwined economic, productive, and political practices of agroecological peasants and organic farmers.