Estudos Sociedade e Agricultura

Labeling as precaution: the release of RR soy and the regulation of transgenics in Brazil

This paper presents an analysis of the conflict involving the release of Roundup Ready (RR) soy in Brazil from what is called a story-line of labeling. The aim is to assess the resources and strategies used by two discursive alliances existing in the conflict to legitimize their position in the political arena in the process of release of transgenics. The work examined statements and arguments that permeated the debate on the issue in the country at different times and used the case involving the release of RR soy as a reference for the analysis. The text aims to show that these discourses have very different assumptions about labeling and its relation to issues involving the principle of substantial equivalence, science, risk and nutritional safety.

Family farming in the agricultural census of 2006: the legal mark and the options for their identification

(Family farmers in the 2006 agricultural census of Brazil: the legal context and options for their identification). To delimit the family farm in the 2006 Agricultural Census, the Ministry of Agrarian Development - MDA and Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE, developed a methodology to identify the agricultural establishments registered in the census, according to the concept established by Law 11,326 of July 24, 2006. The paper presents the methodological steps used and some results.

(Agricultura familiar no censo agropecuário 2006: o marco legal e as opções para sua identificação). Visando delimitar a agricultura familiar no Censo Agropecuário 2006, o Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário (MDA) e o Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) elaboraram metodologia para construção de uma variável identificando os estabelecimentos agropecuários recenseados e que se ajustam ao conceito previsto na Lei n.11.326, de 24 de julho de 2006. O texto apresenta os passos metodológicos utilizados e alguns resultados.

Geographical indications and qualification in the Brazilian wine production

The paper examines the institutionalization of geographical indications for wines in Brazil. The emphasis is on establishing evaluative disputes within the hybrid forums where different actors seek to build a collective agreement concerning the norms and standards of production. From a conventionalist approach, the authors highlight the different understandings of quality presents in the discourses and practices of the actors involved in the construction of this qualification mechanism. The results derived from research conducted in the regions of Serra Gaúcha (Rio Grande do Sul State) and Vales da Uva Goethe (Santa Catarina State), demonstrate the conflict (as well as hybridization) between marketâ/industrial and domestic/patrimonial values.

Agricultural policy and conservation of biodiversity in Brazil

This essay discusses the complex relationship between the agrarian question and biodiversity conservation, showing that the principal disagreements have emerged from the dominant productivity-oriented model of the "green revolution". It argues that the productive efficiency did not avoid the environmental and social "tragedy of the non-commons", giving political space to agrarian reform proposals, consolidating family and peasant agriculture and paving the road for agroecological reconversion. This reconversion, however, is hampered by the high transition cost and the lack of scientific support. A new and potentially favourable policy framework that could make this transition viable is that of payment for environmental services.