SUSTAINABILITY IN AGRICULTURE: ANALYSING THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE FAMILY FARMERS’ ECONOMY

Abstract

The impact of agricultural systems on the economy, environment and society should be monitored so that efficient and fair chains can be developed in the context of sustainable development objectives. Sustainability indicators can be used for this purpose and their applicability to regional realities should be assessed. The objective of the present research is to investigate the influence of environmental and social indicators on economic indicators from the perspective of the family farmers that participated in the Agroindustry Arrangement in southern Brazil. The study was based on surveys involving producers and managers of family farms associated with five cooperatives. The responses of 81 family farmers and cooperative managers to 30 indicators were assessed using the ordinary least squares regression. Fourteen of the indicators were economic (the dependent variable), 11 were environmental and five were social (the independent variables). Positive influences on the environmental indicators relating to water (the financial and operational aspects and productivity), air (the financial and operational aspects) and soil (the operational aspects) were identified. The social indicators relating to food health and safety (the financial aspects and productivity) and opportunities (the operational aspects) had a positive impact on the economy. Therefore, we concluded that there is a dependent relationship between the sustainability indicators which shows the importance of the social and environmental dimensions for the family farmers’ economy. Such results indicated that producers from familiar agro-industry are aware of the importance of the environmental and social aspects to achieve success in the economic aspects and they can be important for the definition of new sustainability policies in regions, where agro-industrial production arrangements are relevant to the economy, as in southern Brazil.