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Producing a Modern Agricultural Frontier: Firms and Cooperatives in Eastern Mato Grosso, Brazil

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  • Wendy Jepson

Abstract

In economic geography, explanations of emerging agricultural frontier regions are dominated by two theoretical perspectives: land-rent theory and political economy. This article advances current research by applying concepts from new institutional economics to reconcile these models. Drawing from a case of frontier expansion in eastern Mato Grosso state, I focus the debate on an institutional perspective. Two organizations, a colonization firm and an agricultural cooperative, are examined. The combined activities of cooperatives and firms reduced the overall costs of production in regions that are defined by high transactions costs (for example, land-tenure insecurity, poor links to the market, and imperfect information) and risk. Each organization linked individual farmers to necessary resources for commercial farming (for instance, land, capital, technology, and markets) and provided an organizational context for farmers to respond to land-tenure conflict and land degradation. The consequence was an increase in the marginal productivity of land, which translated into an expanded commercial agricultural frontier.

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  • Wendy Jepson, 2006. "Producing a Modern Agricultural Frontier: Firms and Cooperatives in Eastern Mato Grosso, Brazil," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 82(3), pages 289-316, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recgxx:v:82:y:2006:i:3:p:289-316
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2006.tb00312.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Barbier, Edward B., 2020. "Long run agricultural land expansion, booms and busts," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Schielein, Johannes & Börner, Jan, 2018. "Recent transformations of land-use and land-cover dynamics across different deforestation frontiers in the Brazilian Amazon," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 81-94.
    3. Antonio A. R. Ioris, 2018. "The Politics of Agribusiness and the Business of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    4. Hershaw, Eva & Sauer, Sérgio, 2023. "Land and investment dynamics along Brazil’s ‘final’ frontier: The financialization of the Matopiba at a political crossroads," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    5. Kronenburg García, Angela & Meyfroidt, Patrick & Abeygunawardane, Dilini & Sitoe, Almeida A., 2022. "Waves and legacies: The making of an investment frontier in Niassa, Mozambique," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 27(1).
    6. Thaler, Gregory M. & Viana, Cecilia & Toni, Fabiano, 2019. "From frontier governance to governance frontier: The political geography of Brazil’s Amazon transition," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 59-72.
    7. Mastrangelo, Matias Enrique & Sun, Zhanli & Seghezzo, Lucas & Müller, Daniel, 2019. "Survey-based modeling of land-use intensity in agricultural frontiers of the Argentine dry Chaco," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

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