The United soya republic

A journey through the heartlands of the Southern Cone's agribusiness, the United Soya Republic is a portrayal of the changes to the landscape and socio-economic tissue brought about by intensive farming and exportation of produce in Argentina and Paraguay.

A journey through the heartlands of the Southern Cone's agribusiness, the United Soya Republic is a portrayal of the changes to the landscape and socio-economic tissue brought about by intensive farming and exportation of produce in Argentina and Paraguay.

Food insecurity has become one of the most pressing issues of our time due to longterm global developments such as climate change, population growth, water scarcity or the growing demand for meat and dairy. Largeestate agriculture focused on genetically modified seeds, and the substantial use of agrochemicals to improve harvests, has been implemented in several parts of the world, bringing together genetic engineering, food processing, and bio-fuels, with the underlying promise of tackling hunger.

Along several trips I met with landowners, labourers, activists, jobless farmers, and those affected by toxic pesticides put on the land to understand and illustrate the complexities of land issues and it's effects on the local communities. There I documented the destabilizing effects of this growing agricultural shifts, witnessing cases of social unrest, deforestation, environmental contamination and internal migration – an issue that is ever more present in our world. After a while I realised the heart of the project would be to document the inequalities existing in the rural areas, inequalities made worse by the demands of the global market and neoliberal policies.

This work is part of a long-term photographic documentary with which I seek to speak of the challenges of food production and its distribution in our globalised world.