GLOBALIZATION, AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN BRAZIL: PERSPECTIVES FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND POLICY

Abstract

The new competitive global arena requires that role players, specialists and decision makers be able to interpret the past, foresee the future and plan its construction by taking appropriate decisions in the present. This study aims at contributing to incorporate to the agricultural policy and planning processes the understanding of the effects of globalization on agriculture and the environment in Brazil. It is the result of two round Delphi questionnaires completed, respectively, by 135 and 66 specialists between 1995 and 1997. After discussing methodological aspects of the research, the paper focuses on the participation of agriculture in Brazil's foreign trade, the influence of globalization in the relationship of agriculture with environment, the chances for change, and the influence of international blocks upon Brazilian agriculture. Consequences for Brazilian agriculture and research organizations are then examined and relationships of the results with possible applications for strategic planning of agricultural research and with the choices Brazilian society must face in order to build the future of agriculture in relation to globalization are discussed.