Innovative practices in agroecological family farming: the counter-movement in Santana do Livramento, RS

Abstract

Innovation is a remarkable feature of the development process of market economies. In this sense, the study aimed to identify the innovative actions of agroecological family farming in Santana do Livramento, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and its relationship with the local production dynamics. The research is characterized as qualitative and the data collection technique used was semi-structured interviews, carried out in the family production units and marketing locations. Nine agroecological family farmers were interviewed between October 2021 and January 2022, the delimitation of the number of interviews occurred by the saturation criterion and the treatment of the data, through content analysis. The agro-ecological family farmers of Santana do Livramento have innovated in the five pillars of innovation proposed by Schumpeter (1997), which are source of raw material, product, process, market and organization of production. The innovative practices fostered are related to the use of natural resources, promotion, strengthening, and valorization of local knowledge, through collaboration for food security, autonomy, and productive self-management. They are also aligned to the conservation of the productive ecosystem, to the culture of knowledge acquisition, as well as to social relations strengthened by reciprocity and respect for local knowledge and flavors, adding resilience and creativity and new interfaces to approach the consumer market.

Keywords
sustainability; agroecology; production of novelties