ï 55 r.lj oB ?{ - 998 b ADRIANA DORFMAN THE EUROPËáN CEOG MERCOSUL AND THE WHEAT CROPS IN BRAZTL: CHANGES IN PRODUCTION STUDIED THROUGH GEOGRAPHICAL SCALES Adriana Dorfman* 1.. Abstract This work deals with wheat crops in the state of Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil before and after the consolidation of the economic integration of. BrazTl, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay under MERCOSUL (Southern Common Market). The subject is approached through Political Geography, whose concepts are useful rn understanding the effects of the removal or lowering of trade barriers for wheat, a product historically considered as a 'national security' matter that motivated policies and had territorial efÍects. Economic integration has consequences in form of sover- eignty concession by the states involved, in fields not strictiy economic. The discussion about the creation of MERCOSUL, about national policies for wheat culture and about wheat production within the agroindustrial financial complex (AIFC) in Rio Grande do Sul today, rearranged as a consequence of the changes in the former two lead to the use of geographical scales to organize the analisys. We conclude that the redirectioning of national policies, foresaking subsidies to plantantion and consumption had more influence in making wheat growing in RS non- profitable than the imports of grain from Argentina. The formation of economic blocks in search of deeper insertion in world economy leads to the redrawing of spatial circuits oÍ production. In the case in study, we con- clude that the changes will be greater for those producers aiming at the national mar- ket, 'farther' from internationaÌized production nets. The permanence of small producers with low productivity and few links with AIFC is explained by its coherence within the local scale. 2. Keywords territory; border; sovereignty; geographical scales; political geography; economic inte- gration; territorialized agroindustrial financial complex; wheaç MERCOSUL; Brazilian policies for wheat; Rio Grande do Sul. * Adriana Dorfman was born in Porto Alegre in 1965. She graduated in Geography at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in 1988. In 1995 she finished the MSc o-n pïtiiicat Geography, at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; the dissertation was "Regional Scale and National Policies: Wheat Grgwing in RS and Mercosul", and dealth with the niethodologi- cal question of the geographical scale applied to a case in Rio Grande do Sul. Presently sÉe teaches in a federal school and does research on Applied Environmental Studies ai the Teresópolis County (município), Rio de faneiro. Current research includes electroal geography in peripherical areas of Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Area. The main publications arã "È"ptu.t in books: "A triticultura gaúcha e o Mercosul: primeiros apontamentos para seu estudo atiavés 1t S:qryft1 política", in: LEHNEN, Arno Carlos eÍ cl. Fionteiras no MercosuÌ. Porto Alegre, EDUFRGS/Prefeitura Municipal de Uruguaiana, L994; and "As escalas do território e sua articulação: uma revisão", in: MESQUITA, Zilâ (org). Territórios do Cotidiano. Porto Alegre: EDUFRGS, 1995.