"Van a enterrar hasta el ultimo colonito". Resistencias politicas, economicas y culturales de los colonos misioneros frente a la expansion y concentracion agroindustrial.

This research looks into the current trade organization forms of small independent yerba mate producers (“colonos”) in the province of Misiones, Argentina. The research’s main objective was to understand the relationship between the financial and social conditions these particular family producers are in, their way to build political representation, their recognitions and identifications, their way to establish classifications and distinctions, as well as their strategic resources to speak up their voice in the public arena. We worked specifically on the Association of Agricultural Producers from Misiones (APAM in Spanish) in order to understand how the changes in stature and make-up of capitalized family production are translated into the social and institutional spheres as well as into the agrarian actors’ demands and their forms of political action. By examining this organization, we were able to explore the antagonisms and power relations within the yerbatero collective, to learn the changes in agricultural family business, and to place the present-day events on a historical scale showing a progressive subordination of the small agrarian actor. This Misiones case lets us think over bigger capitalism events bringing into question the feasibility of growth for certain sectors other than corporate.