%0 Digital %A González, María Virginia %I Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata %D 2018 %G spa %T Mar del Plata horticultural region evolution. Strategies and achievements for the productive adaptation before legal changes %U https://revistas.unlp.edu.ar/revagro/article/view/6146 %X The sanction of the municipal ordinance Nº18.740/08 that prohibits the use of agrochemicals 1000 m next to urban centers of General Pueyrredón, caused a crisis in the horticultural belt of Mar del Plata city. To deal with this situation several strategies emerged: the "Program for the Sampling and Control of Agrochemicals and Microbiological Contaminants in Fresh Fruit Products" created by the Department of Bromatology of the Municipality, Decree No. 2257/12, to ensure the aptitude for consumption of products offered in concentrating markets, retail businesses, supermarkets; the Municipality proposed the creation of an intersectorial and productive workgroup that generated the "Program of Sustainable Development"; and the foundation of the Fruit and Vegetable Association of Producers and Allied (AFHOPA) (includes 50% of the producers). By means of surveys of qualified informants and the analysis of previous research, the evolution of the sector and the strategies and actions (organization, training and control) developed to continue producing according to the new legal framework are characterized and analyzed; as well as the achievements: the real-time detection of contaminated samples, and the development of a local quality label. It was analyzed the role (of agencies and institutions and the AFHOPA) and the keys to progress in the transformation of the productive sector. The emergence of the present work shows the need to socially revalue the fruit and vegetable sector, to improve the competitiveness of the local horticultural chain and to make a territorial order that delimits the housing development on productive land to minimize new conflicts.