MILK PRODUCTION IN FAMILY AGRICULTURE IN THE WESTERN REGION OF SANTA CATARINA: TECHNOLOGICAL TRAJECTORIES AND MARKETS IN DISPUTE

Abstract

Milk production can be considered as the main socio-economic activity of rural areas in the western region  of   Santa   Catarina, which concentrates about 79% of milk production in this Brazilian state. In this region, especially since the 1990s, dairy   farming has become the main alternative for inclusion in the market of thousands of families excluded from  the   production   of   other agricultural activities, especially pork breeding. In the last decades, there has been a gradual expansion of that activity, without excessively concentrating production, and without significant exclusion of families from the fluid milk   market.   More   recently, there are signs of changes in this situation. Especially with the expansion in the region of milk production in  confined   systems. This text analyzes data from ongoing research, the objective of which is  to   determine   and   analyze   what   are   the   impacts generated by technological changes and by the increase in scale in dairy farming in family farming in western   Santa   Catarina. The methodological procedures include bibliographic research, tabulation,   and   analysis   of   agricultural   censuses   and   the performance of semi-structured interviews with directors and dairy technicians and cooperatives, technicians from   the   public rural extension, representatives of farmers' unions and federations, representatives of NGOs and family farmers who   produce milk. It is concluded that among the main reasons that lead family farmers to adopt confined   milk   systems   are   the   rugged topography of the region, the need to increase the scale of production due to economic specialization   and   issues   related   to professional succession.