ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explore the relation between neoliberalism and agricultural bio-technology through the lens of the controversy over transgenic crops in Brazil. The development of agricultural biotechnology in the 1980s and 1990s coincides historically with the height of neoliberalism, and the agbiotech industry has been driven and shaped by neoliberal policies and institutions (McAfee, 2003; Kloppenburg, [1988] 2004; Otero, 2008). In the neoliberal era, biotech firms have been able to capitalize on technological developments by shaping legal regimes to suit their commercial interests. The resulting neoregulations—in the form of strengthened intellectual property rights regimes for plant varieties, patents on genetically engineered organisms and seed contracts—have been controversial and are increasingly being questioned. Brazil is a case in point. Since 2009, farmers have been expressing growing discontent at the new legal regimes governing seeds and have challenged their legality through several class action lawsuits.
