Entre la tierra y la feria: agroturismo y género en las ruralidades del Alto Valle de Neuquén, Patagonia Argentina

Abstract

The Rural women in the cases studied are leading and spearheading agritourism and agricultural production initiatives represent a response rooted in caring for the land, health, and the environment, to the crisis of the region’s fruit-growing model and the urban and oil extraction boom in the lower Neuquén River valley, in northern Argentine Patagonia. These initiatives demonstrate that they transcend the need for economic diversification, becoming political projects that redefine care as a central practice for the sustainability of life. The organization, training efforts, and development of agritourism projects on production farms are primarily led by women who are transforming their reproductive role into a driving force for agroecology, territorial defense, and the construction of local food sovereignty, challenging the traditional gendered division of labor. These diversification processes were observed through fieldwork and interviews conducted between 2024 and 2026 in the departments of Añelo and Confluencia in Neuquén, the most affected areas by urban and hydrocarbon expansion. The systematization of 10 agritourism experiences reveals that, through local strategies, care extends beyond production practices to encompass the bodies of the women themselves, their families, consumers, and the productive lands, enabling them to resist and remain on their productive properties. These feminized networks constitute a form of resistance and re-existence in rural areas, underscoring the urgent need for public policies with a gender perspective.