The key role of the agribusiness and biotechnology sectors in constructing the economic imaginary of the bioeconomy in Argentina
Anne Tittor
Abstract
Most analysis on bioeconomy is based on a comparison of strategy papers or scientific articles, mainly from the Global North. By focussing on the economic imaginary of the bioeconomy in Argentina, the key actors promoting the concept and the promises associated with it, this paper goes beyond these contributions. The article looks at a case from the Global South, analyses the actors involved and their role in the country’s political economy. Economic imaginaries help us understand how actors build a narrative structure to bridge economic activities within the ‘actually existing economy’ and contribute to drawing the attention of policymakers to certain issues. Argentina’s economic imaginary of the bioeconomy places a strong emphasis on value-adding and sees the bioeconomy as a tool for upgrading agroindustrial value chains and industrialising agriculture. Influential actors within the Argentinean agribusiness and biotechnology sectors actively promote the idea of the bioeconomy, and many of its exponents themselves have been conducting research on biotechnology and favour GMOs. Therefore, further research should explore whether a specific economic imaginary of the bioeconomy in agrarian export countries in the Global South is emerging, promoting industrial upgrading based on GMO agroindustrial products, and promising jobs and development.