The expansion of global fresh fruit markets has created opportunities for previously underdeveloped regions to integrate themselves into the world economy in new ways. One example is the recent formation and rapid growth of the grape branch of the fruiticulture sector in the sao Francisco valley, North East Brazil. This is based upon a very high level of federal state intervention in creating and managing irrigation districts. In addition, the activities of public and private actors in coordinating export production, and promoting cooperation amongst farms, has had, and continues to have, significant developmental impacts in the region. This thesis utilises a global commodity chains approach to investigate the formation and functioning of the branch, which must meet increasingly high international public and private standards and requirements to participate in higher value horticultural commodity chains. This translates into an increasingly rigorous production process with significant demands on technology, knowledge, and labour processes. Different sized and capitalised farms can meet these standards and requirements in different ways. Some larger more highly capitalised farms finance their own research and development, and investments in human and physical capital. Other large farms, as well as smaller, less capitalised ones group together to meet the requirements, and in so doing enjoy economies of scale, and the generation and exchange of tacit knowledge. The thesis shows that cooperatives, marketing boards and marketing firms help organise farms, and play an important role in their participation in high value commodity chains. The thesis also provides an account o flab our in the Sao Francisco grape branch, and proposes that issues of labour be more fully integrated in the global commodity chains approach which has so far largely neglected them.