Neoliberal Environmentality among Elites: Becoming "Responsible Producers" in Santarem, Brazil

Soybean agriculture is expanding into the Brazilian Amazon, with certification programs in place to limit the environmental impact. Based on an ethnographic study with soybean farmers in Santarem, Para State, Brazil, I claim that, through their enrollment in this conservation program, soybean farmers have come to see themselves as "responsible producers." Despite their self-identification as responsible producers, they treat environmental restrictions as a necessary cost imposed by civil society as they strive to transform the region into a commercial agriculture center, in contrast to alternative socio-ecological production practices, thus exemplifying neoliberal environmentality. Through studying up with landed elites, this work demonstrates a distinct form of neoliberal environmentality.