When engaging in an interdisciplinary and intersectoral knowledge coproduction process, what premises should (academic and non-academic) participants consider to prevent power dynamics and divergent interests from becoming epistemological obstacles (Bachelard, 1974)? What methodological devices should be adopted to enable a productive dialogue between heterogeneous actors and knowledge? Despite the plethora of literature on the relevance of participatory approaches and the promotion of open science to produce socially meaningful knowledge, most works neglect central challenges present in any coproduction experience. Namely, how to deal with power dynamics, how to challenge the identity anchors of the participants and how to ensure the epistemological conditions for initiating long-term collaboration. Hence, based on these concerns, this paper puts forth the theoretical-methodological basis of a knowledge coproduction approach for the development of climate services for family farming. In addition, we present two major results achieved in the framework of a coproduction process involving academic and non-academic participants: the development of a community-based rainfall monitoring network in the eastern region of the South American Gran Chaco and the codesign of a smartphone application. 

Addressing climate services in SouthAmerican Chaco region through a knowledge coproduction process

This paper critically analyses the complexity of the land grabbing phenomenon in Argentina. We study land grabbing processes linked to the expansion of agribusiness by focusing on corporate regionally extended land grabbers’ strategies through five dimensions: (1) forms of control over land (and other resources) are not restricted to the formal acquisition of property, (2) the role of both national and foreign actors are essential in land grabbing dynamics, (3) land grabbing is not expressed exclusively by the scale of the area traded, (4) the current cycle of land grabbing is part of the convergence of multiple crises and (5) forms of political action are complex and involve diverse positioning. We conclude that land grabbing mechanisms unfold differently depending on the diversity of socio-spatial formations they encounter in each territory and that forms of political action “from below” are complex and not restricted to overt conflict. 

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Land grabbing and agribusiness in Argentina: five critical dimensions for analysing corporate strategies and its impacts over unequal actors

La production du riz en Argentine a beneficie des nouvelles semences non transgeniques resistantes aux herbicides et adaptees aux conditions agro-climatiques du pays. Ces dernieres annees, avec l’avancee du modele agrobusiness cette culture s’est largement developpee dans le nord-est de la province du Chaco et ce dans des zones occupees jusqu’alors par des populations aborigenes et paysannes pratiquant une agriculture familiale. Cette expansion a entraine une dynamique d’accaparement des terres, de concentration productive et des problemes de contamination (eau et air) dus a l’intensification de l’usage des herbicides. Face aux effets sur la sante et l’environnement, les voisins des champs rizicoles se sont organises afin de stopper l’avancee de l’entreprise responsable. Dans cet article, nous abordons ce conflit afin d’analyser les limites du modele agrobusiness, autant que celles des mouvements ecologistes.

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Serpe Paula

Papers

Expansion du modèle agrobusiness dans la filière rizicole en Argentine : enjeux productifs, environnementaux et sociaux