Trajectories of family farm and regional development

a longitudinal analysis

Abstract

The objective of this article is to identify the changes made in the productive systems of family farmers and to analyze the implications that they generate in the dynamics of regional development. A historical and comparative research was carried out through the longitudinal analysis of the trajectories of family farmers in the municipality of Salvador das Missões, in Rio Grande do Sul. Primary data were collected from the same families in 2003 and 2018, and they were organized and analyzed by comparing panels and descriptive statistics. Three types of family trajectories have been identified, with different implications for regional development: total deagrarianization, production for self-consumption and intensification of entrepreneurial forms of agriculture. The latter proved to be predominant and dynamizes the regional economy, but makes it strongly dependent on food empires, generating the productive exclusion of many families and concentration of wealth.

Keywords: Family Farming. Trajectories. Longitudinal. Regional Development.