ORGANIC FOOD PRODUCTION: A STRATEGIC POTENTIALITY FOR FAMILY AGRICULTURE

Abstract

Consumers, in general, are better informed and more demanding with regards to the quality standards of the food they eat. This awareness goes along with the food safety and sustainability principles that are so widely spread nowadays, which means that there is a latent concern about the use of natural resources in a non-discriminatory way, so not to harm the environment. In this sense, organic food production comes as a form of contemplating these consumers, as well as a differential for small rural producers. Because of this, the present study aims at analyzing the organic food production in Brazil, and makes reference to the potentialities for organic production development within the family agriculture context. Some aspects of production sustainability and the strategic differentials they bring with them for small rural properties are described in this study with the attempt of giving the proper value to family agriculture. This way, it can observed that organic food production may represent an alternative to family agriculture in terms of social, environmental, and economic effects, since the practices of conscious consumerism have occupied an important place in the global scenario, which collaborate with sustainable development and the value given to family agriculture products.