(Re)making landscapes into resources: the role of Hass avocado plantations in Salamina, Colombia

Abstract

The landscape of Salamina (Caldas, Colombia) has historically fulfilled multiple functions and undergone diverse transformations. The expansion of Hass avocado plantations (HAP) has marked a significant shift, redefining the landscape from a space of peasant self-sufficiency and social reproduction—characterized by landscape use-values—to a market-driven asset centered on the extraction of ecological surplus, represented as landscape exchange-values. This transition has been propelled by market compulsions, reinforced in recent years by the Hass avocado boom. This article applies a critical resource geography perspective to examine how land is reconfigured through the process of resource-making. It identifies the socio-historical, political, economic, and material factors that converge to facilitate HAP expansion, emphasizing the role of the state-capital nexus in enabling the commodification and exploitation of Salamina’s landscape.