Vinculación interinstitucional y desarrollo de una rotoenfardadora para los agricultores familiares del NEA

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present a machine for solving the forage shortage in low-scale livestock in northern Argentina. Action research methodology allowed the interactions among a group of family farmers and professionals of Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) and the Engineering Faculty of Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE). An inter-agency cooperative venture led to the manufacture of a roto-baler. This venture was part of a research and development project aimed at mechanizing the productive activities of Family Farming (FF).
The contribution consists in showing that the combination of endogenous interinstitutional resources offered an autochthonous answer to a need detected in territory. Exchanges between tacit and scientific knowledge were a key for designing, calculating and manufacturing the machine. The tangible output of the inter-agency cooperative venture was an incremental product innovation and the physical prototype of the roto-baler was delivered to a group of Santa Sylvina producers in Chaco. Intellectual protection and industrial escalation in SMEs are under management and will allow a virtuous cycle of linkage and technological development to be closed.