The persistence of family farmers’ fairs in a “sojification of society” scenario: elements of reality of Júlio de Castilhos and Tupanciretã / RS

Abstract

One way to rescue and maintain the food culture is through the short circuit markets, principally farms fairs. Thus, the work aims at an investigation of consumers and family farmers fairs, considering that the supply of food, through the municipal fairs, provides employment and income to farmers, but also product quality to consumers. In this space it is possible to commercialize and add value to the products coming from the family agriculture, besides creating links of social relation. In this sense, we applied questionnaires with mixed questions in both categories, consumers and farmers, at Júlio de Castilhos and Tupanciretã fairs. We observe that there is great assiduity on the part of consumers, and also a preference for a particular farmer. The fairs can be analyzed in several aspects: the importance of fairs as differentiated spaces of consumption; The identification of fairs as places where it is possible to buy a better quality food; The search by consumers for foods with cultural identity; The size of the social contribution that the fairs have, regarding the generation of income for the farmers; And one of the most important aspects is the consolidation of a differentiated space with an agricultural identity different from the hegemonic identity of the municipalities.