Agronegócio da soja no cerrado: empresarização e transnacionalização

: The objective of this article is to analyze the dynamics of the establishment and commercialization of soybean farming in the municipality of Balsas, in the south of Maranhão, observing the role of the federal government in implementing agro-mineral and international cooperation programs, as well as the role of large transnational companies in this process. The methodology was based on documentary research to identify the main government programs that promoted soybean farming and field research, with semi-structured interviews with soybean farmers. The research showed that the State played an important role in establishing soybean cultivation; that the role of grain processing and marketing trading companies was fundamental for this oilseed to become one of the main economic activities in the Cerrado; and that large Japanese companies began an aggressive process of acquiring oilseed producers and traders and transport infrastructure in Brazil to offset China's advance in purchasing land for soybean production.