THE UNEVEN MODERNIZATION OF BRAZILIAN AGRICULTURE FROM 2006 TO 2017

ABSTRACT This article aims to analyze the factors that shape the dynamics of Brazil’s agriculture modernization between 2006 and 2017. This period is characterized by the huge expansion of agricultural production in the country, with a large share of that production driven to foreign markets. Assuming that modernization is a multifaceted phenomenon, 24 variables related to it were calculated for 137 Brazilian mesoregions, and five factors were estimated, which measure: capital/labor ratio (Factor 1), capital/land ratio (Factor 2), the infrastructure and intensity of the institutional support (Factor 3), intensity of the use of inputs by crops (Factor 4) and sustainable land use (Factor 5). The distribution of factor-scores among the Brazilian mesoregions in 2006 and in 2017 is uneven, and the different advances between those two years in the mesoregions reinforce that modernization of the agriculture continues taking place unevenly throughout the Brazilian territory during the first two decades of the 21st century.

摘要 本文旨在剖析2006至2017年间塑造巴西农业现代化动态发展的各类影响因素。该时期巴西农业生产规模大幅扩张，其中相当大份额的农产品销往海外市场。鉴于农业现代化是一项多维度复杂现象，本研究针对巴西137个中尺度区域（mesoregions）测算得到24项相关变量，并据此提取5个核心因子，分别衡量：资本劳动比（因子1）、资本土地比（因子2）、基础设施与制度支持强度（因子3）、作物投入使用强度（因子4）以及土地可持续利用水平（因子5）。2006年与2017年，各因子得分在巴西中尺度区域间的分布均不均衡；两个年份间各区域的发展进度差异进一步印证，在21世纪前二十年，巴西农业现代化进程在全国范围内仍呈现不均衡推进的态势。