Frozen Fates

Abstract

The case of a Chilean frozen vegetable company shows how the operations of agroindustrial complexes in Chile have transformed the social structures in which they are incorporated. National and global agro-food market operations significantly increase economic risk in local rural areas. The company studied finds itself at risk because of problems of access to international markets and has developed strategies to reduce both fixed and operating production costs in order to prevail in that risky situation. In practice, these policies translate into a progressive rationalization of production processes that constitutes an externalization of risk from the company to its immediate surroundings. The company thus transfers many of its risks and costs to producers and workers, carrying out an aggressive pricing policy with regard to the former and cutting back labor requirements for the latter, with the result of increasing social inequity. In sum, the case illustrates the deep consequences of capitalist operation in rural areas.