AGRIBUSINESS AND KNOWLEDGE IN AGRICULTURE: HUMAN ACTION, PRICES, AND COORDINATION IN A COMPLEX ORDER

Abstract

This chapter presents a synthesis of the interpretation of agribusiness as a system of production and knowledge, as developed in the book Agronegócio e conhecimento (Agribusiness and Knowledge). It begins with the systemic definition proposed by Davis and Goldberg to examine the limitations of a description restricted to the links of a chain. Agricultural production brings together agents characterized by partial information, intertemporal decision-making, heterogeneous natural resources, and continuously evolving institutional relationships. Drawing on contributions from Austrian economics and institutional theory, the chapter discusses how prices, contracts, competition, and experimentation facilitate the coordination of this dispersed knowledge. Family farming is addressed as a form of production unit organization capable of participating in the same input, processing, and trade networks. Furthermore, the analysis examines the potential effects of directed credit, minimum prices, and subsidized insurance on incentives and learning, without assuming uniform outcomes across all situations. It is argued that evaluating agricultural policies requires simultaneous attention to local information, the distribution of costs and benefits, and the concrete conditions of market access. The contribution is conceptual: it proposes viewing agribusiness as an economic and cognitive order undergoing constant revision, rather than as a single agent or a homogeneous sector.