Diversity of productive systems and sustainability in agriculture

Abstract

The development of agriculture takes place under different conditions leading to the emergence of different production systems. Due to that, it was carried out the agriculture diagnosis of the municipality of Chiapetta, RS. The evolution of agriculture, agroecological zoning, the characterization of production systems and the definition of strategic lines of development have been studied. Forty semi-structured interviews were conducted in production units during the second half of 2015 and first 2016. In addition, thematic maps and secondary data were also used. There is a wide disparity of access to land in the municipality, so there are many properties with small areas and some with large field areas. Agriculture has evolved into four periods, according to ecological, technical and socioeconomic facts. Soybean and corn crops predominate in the summer, and wheat and oats in the winter. In recent years, dairy production has become an important activity, especially for family farming. Twelve types of production systems and three special cases, which represent the technical and socioeconomic diversity of agriculture, were characterized. Among the various types, two are large employers, two are large family members, three are medium family members and five are small family members. Three emerging cases were identified, one small, one medium and one large family members. The priority actions to be developed should take into account  the types of family farmers, it means, those with low-yield grain production, family farmers with low-intensive milk production, and family farmers with high dependence on soybean, as they have difficulty in obtaining the level of standard minimum income.

Keywords: Family Farming. Typology. Grain Production. Dairy Cattle.