Políticas de crecimiento y políticas de sostenibilidad: contradicciones en la fruticultura chilena

This article addresses the contradictory relationship between policies oriented towards economic growth and policies aimed at ecological sustainability in the case of Chilean fruit production. The history of growth of this sector is confronted today with the scenario of the global climatic and ecological crisis and the national water crisis, which poses fundamental challenges. The encounter between these historical trends is analysed from a multi-scalar and relational perspective of geographical space and applying the scientific literature on degrowth to this case. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with different actors in the Chilean fruit industry as well as critical observers, documents and statistics and fieldwork in Chile. The analysis leads to the conclusion that many of the sustainability policies currently applied to the Chilean fruit sector are limited by the same factors that limit environmental policies at the global level, such as rising energy and resource expenditure, rebound effects, problem shifting and insufficient and inappropriate technological change. Limits that can be overcome by developing a strategy to transform the sector beyond the goal of unlimited growth. In this way, the article contributes to the literature on degrowth with a territorialised and multi-scalar case study on the one hand, and to the literature on agrarian history and policy in Chile on the other hand, by linking it to global ecological challenges.