Mismatches between mill-cultivated sugarcane and smallholding farming in Brazil: Environmental and socioeconomic impacts

Abstract

Brazil is a country historically characterized by high levels of capital and land ownership concentration, and some areas where family farming is traditionally strong are potentially impacted by the expansion of sugarcane, through land renting contracts between farmers (landowners) and sugar mills (tenants). This paper examines the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of mill-cultivated sugarcane expansion on family farming in the municipality of Ipiranga de Goiás, Goiás state, Brazil, where sugarcane plantations compete with corn, pasture and dairy cattle. Using a questionnaire composed of closed-and open-ended questions, we interviewed 28 family farmers, which were divided into two groups: those with and those without land renting contracts with the ethanol and sugar mill. The results show differences between both groups, such as average area size, main source of income, past and current activities, and perceptions about the pros and cons of sugarcane expansion. Land leasing emerged as a short-term solution to the shortage of on-farm labor and other economic difficulties small farmers continue to face. There are some farmers, however, who have resisted leasing their land for a number of reasons, including revenue is too low due to the small area in question; they also want to avoid loss of autonomy in production and the deep transformation of their rural way of life and landscape.