When farm work disappears: labor and environmental change in the Brazilian sugar-ethanol industry

Abstract

What factors drive labor substitution in the biofuels sector? Can labor substitution engender positive environmental outcomes, such as decreasing carbon emissions? Using the Brazilian sugar–ethanol industry as a case study, this article examines the motivations and consequences of substituting machine harvesters for cane-cutters and ending field burning. Not only does this article interrogate key claims from techno-optimistic and sociological theories of environmental change on how and why producers adopt new practices, but it also highlights the role of labor in processes of environmental change. Using a multi-sited ethnographic method, I collected data in 3 ethanol-producing states in Brazil, where I interviewed 61 mill managers, variety breeders, consultants, and producer syndicate officials and conducted observations at 9 mills. Two main findings emerge. First, labor challenges with farmworkers, not environmental authority, were the primary motivations for changing production practices. Second, although new practices generated positive environmental effects locally, such gains are likely to vanish at the regional level since an expanding industrial sector, with its new employment opportunities, undergirded and made viable mechanization in the biofuels sector. Overall, this article is an empirical account of how an emerging market economy seeks to balance climate change mitigation with an active development agenda.

Keywords:

• biofuels
• labor
• environment
• Brazil
• development

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on this article. I would also like to thank Kyle Hickman for his critical feedback. I take sole responsibility for any errors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Consultants provide expertise to mills on how to adopt new production methods and technology.

2. Producer syndicate officials serve multiple roles: lobbying government officials to shape regulations, coordinating relations between mills, small growers and worker groups, and organizing industry seminars to facilitate information sharing on technology and production methods.

3. For the sake of brevity, I use the following numbering system for in-text citation of interviews: Breeder #1 = B1, Breeder #2 = B2…; Manager #1 = M1, Manager #2 = M2…; Consultant #1 = C1, Consultant #2 = C2…; Producer syndicate official #1 = PSO1, Producer syndicate official #2 = PSO2….

4. This refers to official holidays (feriados), such as state, federal, and religious observances.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported through a Fulbright IIE/Capes Fellowship and, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Robert F. and Jean E. Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies, and the Brazil Initiative.

Notes on contributors

Ian R. Carrillo

Ian R. Carrillo is a Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology and Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is interested in issues around environment and development, especially in Latin America.