O agronegócio cafeeiro do sul de Minas Gerais: especialização territorial produtiva, agentes corporativos e divisão intrarregional do trabalho

Abstract

Throughout the twentieth century, Brazilian agriculture underwent significant structural transformations. The advent of globalization intensified these diverse processes, such as the homogenization of techniques, increased production and exports, and the emergence of specialized spaces, among others, making agribusiness one of the main drivers of the reorganization of Brazilian territory. Within this context, the thesis aimed to understand, in Southern Minas Gerais — the main coffee-producing region of Brazil — the process of regional productive specialization and some of its resulting implications, such as the corporate use of territory and the intraregional division of labor, that is, the emergence of urban centers specialized in functions associated with the coffee spatial production circuit. Both the process of regional specialization and the specific functions of certain cities reveal the importance and centrality that regional production assumes in the domestic and international commodity market, allowing us to recognize in Southern Minas Gerais the emergence of true “agribusiness cities,” which perform functions such as providing services and infrastructure geared toward the productive consumption of the coffee agribusiness, receiving infrastructure investments and acquiring characteristics of a corporate territory, as they are strongly oriented toward hegemonic agents that control production (trading companies and large cooperatives).