Influências do agronegócio na produção do espaço rural e urbano em Nova Mutum (MT)

Abstract

The expansion of the Brazilian agricultural frontier, underway since the 1970s, has provoked processes of territorial modernization in several regions of the country, including the northern region of the state of Mato Grosso. Such processes have been rearranging the relations between countryside and city, establishing new arrangements to adapt these spaces to the demands of globalized agribusiness. It is in this context that the Municipality of Nova Mutum – MT is inserted, located on the banks of the BR163, in the northern mesoregion of Mato Grosso, 250 km from the capital Cuiabá. The objective of this research was to analyze, through a geographical perspective, the influence of agribusiness in the production of rural and urban spaces in Nova Mutum - MT. The set of objects and actions that make up our spatial area allows us to classify it as an “Agribusiness City” (Elias, 2011), in which agents linked to this activity exercise, in a hegemonic way, control over the territory and on space production. Emancipated in 1988 and with only 34 years of existence, the Municipality of Nova Mutum stands out on the national scene as one of the main producers and exporters of soy in the country, its urban area has planned forms and functions, both to offer highly specialized products and services for the countryside, as well as for generating real estate appreciation, its urban fabric is in rapid expansion, at the same time that it presents a pace of population and economic growth above the national average. However, the modernization that applies both to rural and city spaces meets the rationality of agricultural and financial capital, which controls physical spaces and collective perception, through strategically articulated actions between private capital and the State and also making use of discursive constructions to maintain power structures and mask social inequalities. The research was carried out between 2020 and 2022 and the methodology is based on a specialized and updated bibliographic review, in addition to the collection and analysis of secondary data obtained from official websites and primary data collected in semi-structured interviews.