THEAGRICULTURAL FRONTIER EXPANSION AND THE USEOF DICHLOR-DIFENYL-TRICHLORETHETAN (DDT) IN GOIÁS (1940-1980)

Abstract

The expansion of the agricultural frontier in the state of Goiás over the last decades has been relatedtothehistoricalprocessesofagricultural modernizationand the assumptions of thetechnological evolution of the Green Revolution. The modernization of agriculture and the transformation of the Cerrado biome into a privileged space for food production was associated with a set of research on the correction and improvement of oligotrophic soil. Additionally, the introduction of pesticides in food production has brought several impacts on the environment and society. The indiscriminate use of DDT and other types of pesticides have caused serious contamination problems in soil, water, vegetables, animals and humans. Thus, this article aims to analyze, through the theoretical-methodological assumptions of environmental history, the repercussion of the socio-environmental impacts of pesticides on the population and nature, as a way to rescue the history of the emergence and use of these products.