Soy’s “War of Routes”: from speculation to “logistics rationale”

Abstract

This article analyzes how transformation of the global geography of soy and the subsequent retracing of trade routes for this commodity encounters previously established interests and speculative flows in frontier regions, generating disputes and strategies for local and regional actors that seek to adapt and respond to these global processes as they are able. The first section explores how in addition to global determinants, logistics projects have been defined by disputes between local oligarchies in highly speculative dynamics that configure what we call the “War of Routes.” The second section analyzes how these unpredictable and speculative disputes reveal a “logistics rationale” aligned with the neoliberal rationality that dominates the relationship between agribusiness agents and the Brazilian government. This “logic of practices” resulting from confrontation as routes are reconfigured continually tries to mold the government in order to serve agribusiness interests. We conclude by proposing ways to overcome this logic through participatory infrastructure agendas.