The São Francisco Valley Agricultural Transformation Quiz

The article uses the Global Commodity Chain (GCC) framework.

A combination of strict northern retailer requirements and producers’ ability to target export windows.

The need to upgrade production continually in response to retailers’ demands gives workers strategic leverage.

The article suggests that, contrary to much GCC literature, workers in export grape production have strategic leverage and have been able to extract significant concessions from exporting farms due to their strong tradition of rural trade union organization.

The article focuses on examining the evolving labor process in the São Francisco grape branch in North East Brazil using the global commodity chain framework.

The author conducted fieldwork on 26 farms in the São Francisco valley through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with farm managers, owners, workers, and other relevant entities.

Non-Traditional Agricultural Exports (NTAXs) refer to fresh fruits and vegetables and have become one of the fastest-growing branches of world trade.

The term 'non-traditional' refers to products that have not been produced in a specific country before or were previously produced for domestic consumption but are now exported.

The rise of global retail corporations and technological innovations in the cool chain have facilitated the production of highly perishable NTAXs in regions previously distant from northern markets.

The integration of the São Francisco grape branch into the circuits of global NTAX production exemplifies the broader phenomenon of contemporary globalization.

The GCC approach allows the conceptual connection of actors involved in the production, distribution, and marketing of the same commodity, irrespective of geographical dispersion.

The GCC approach facilitates an analysis of power relations along the chain and enables tracing how transformations in one part of the world impact developments in other parts.

Until recently, the study of labor was largely excluded from GCC analysis, with few studies incorporating labor into the framework.

GCC-inspired research has mostly arrived at pessimistic conclusions regarding labor's conditions in NTAX sectors.

The article aims to illuminate the conditions and practices of labor in one branch of export horticulture, following the lead of previous studies that have incorporated labor into the GCC framework.

The labor process and workers' bargaining power in the context of export grape production in Brazil and South Africa.

Pressures from domestic liberalization, competition, and quality-related buyer requirements, leading to the displacement of permanent workers by temporary ones, particularly women.

Due to increasing buyer quality requirements, preferring permanently employed workers over temporary labor.

Workers' structural and associational power.

São Francisco river valley in North East Brazil.

Heavy investment in irrigation by the Brazilian government.

Over 40,000 hectares.

From approximately 1,050 tons to 13,300 tons.

From US$4.7 million to US$20.4 million.

In the South and South East.

Between December and March.

Its regular and crushing droughts.

São Francisco Valley

1,407

Large, medium, and small

UK, mainland Europe, top-end Brazilian, and bottom-end Brazilian markets

Export

International and national industrial and commercial capital

Private investors, including those from agricultural backgrounds and members of the Juazeiro Agricultural Cooperative

Colonos, family farmers who settled on public irrigation schemes

Coordinate marketing in the UK and mainland Europe

Purchase for export, ensuring the production of export quality grapes

Varies, with uncertain estimates

Carrefour

Approximately 40,000 wage workers.

Grape and mango.

4.7 workers per hectare per cultivation cycle.

2.5 workers per hectare.

Approximately 80%.

The top three retail chains in several countries had over 50-60% market share.

UK retailers shifted from procuring fruit and vegetables from wholesale markets to collaborating with importers to procure directly from producers.

Increased market share and direct sourcing from producers allowed UK retailers to impose strict quality standards and additional service requirements on producers.

The shift from a price-driven to a quality-driven commodity chain led to retailers increasingly sourcing produce from approved suppliers that conform to their company standards.

Producers in the São Francisco Valley responded by transforming the production process to meet quality standards, making it increasingly scientific, and implementing a product and process upgrading strategy.

The main exporting association, VALEXPORT, in collaboration with the state development agency CODEVASF and large farms, implemented a project to introduce seedless grapes into the valley to meet northern retail market demands.

Research, learning, and adoption efforts led to the successful production of export quality seedless grapes by all large farms and increasing numbers of medium farms in the valley by the early 2000s.