Chart-gazing Farmers and Agribusiness Co-ops: On the Mediating Role of Cooperative Organizations in Paraguay’s Soybean Complex

Abstract

This article examines the shifting rural social relations in Paraguay’s soybean complex, with a specific focus on the role of farmer cooperatives in the commercialization of Paraguay's agriculture. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in the departments of Itapúa and southern Alto Paraná in 2021 and 2022, this paper adopts an agrarian political economy perspective to argue that cooperatives in Paraguay serve as a stabilizing force by buffering against farming risk and mitigating the rise of reproduction costs. This dynamic allows for the differential incorporation of medium and some small-scale farmers, while contributing to the consolidation of the hegemonic export-oriented agri-food system, with all its associated implications. The article also contextualizes the analysis of contemporary cooperatives by providing a historical overview of the uneven development and concomitant regional variations in Paraguay’s soybean agriculture, and engages with broader historical debates on the potential of cooperative organizations in a capitalist context.