FROM NATURAL ENVIRONMENT TO MECHANIZED AND COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE

Abstract

This work aims to contribute to the formulation of a geographic look at the evolutionary process of agriculture from its primitive forms to the present day, taking into account the social relations involved in this paradigm, whether political, economic, or even environmental. To achieve this objective, we rehearsed some relevant themes, the most expressive of which concerns the change of pattern from the first to the second nature with a focus on field activities; other aspects are also taken into account, especially those linked to capitalist rationality, such as the international division of labor and the political and economic articulations of the hegemonic actors of agribusiness, which currently condition the lives of many people and the productive activities of agriculture; in addition, we also contemplate technical evolution in the field and Brazilian agribusiness. Thus, we verify that the current situation makes the ruralist elite largely responsible for the total commodification and modernization of rural activities (mainly agriculture and livestock) that we currently face in Brazil in a particular way. Therefore, we work with authors such as Kautsky (1980), Marx (1983; 1984), Oliveira (2007), Mazzali (2000), Santos (2014a), Harvey (2005), who serve as a foundation for formulations on this theme.