The Politics in an organization of small horticultural producers in the west of Greater Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Abstract

The last decade has been the protagonist of the rise of various family farming organizations, which in the peri-urban areas of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) represent decapitalized horticultural producers. These groups have gained great visibility thanks to a new protest repertoire, the highlighting of the sector's problems and the incorporation of the debate on agroecology and food sovereignty. They thus constitute an alternative approach to conventional food production and the agricultural development model.

This article aims to describe and analyze the organizational strategies of one of these organizations, the Colonia 20 de Abril “Darío Santillán” of the Union of Land Workers, an occupation of 80 hectares in Luján, province of Buenos Aires, where 52 families produce vegetables in an agroecological way.

Based on extensive field work, which consisted of conducting interviews and observation through participation in various productive, commercial and political spaces, the importance of a strategy based on links with various areas of the State and other sectors is demonstrated. , generating a network that promotes the sustainability of the experience and encourages rethinking another way of producing food.