Management systems in agroecological transition: consistencies and contradictions in the everyday practice of family farmers

Abstract

The times we are living have been shown clear symptoms of unsustainability related to the current model of production and consumption. The criticism about such system and its relationship with in numerous social and environmental catastrophes, before restrict to a specific group of environmentalists, acquire major extents gathering largest society’s segments. The research institutions must be focused on this moment, vigorously discussing new alternatives for consumption and production, which should be able to reduce the social and environmental damage. The partnership between the empirical and scientific knowledge is a key to perform a change in such paradigm. The farmers’knowledge about the management and quality of the soil is a tool for building sustainable management systems. In the present study, were evaluated the perception and soil management skills of six farmers, in transition to agroecology, who are members of the project“Participatory research network for the agroecological transition of farming family in the Rio Grande so Sul county”implemented by EMBRAPA–Clima Temperado at the south region of Rio Grande do Sul county, Brazil. To gather the needed information were applied semi-structured interviews. Then, were performed quantitative analyses about the soil attributes, applying the standard methodology used at the UFPel laboratories, aiming to relate the farmers’perception with the current soil attributes collected in the quantitative analysis of studied ecosystems. The aim of present study was to verify the coherence between the farmers’perception and their soil management practices. The verified results showed a complex knowledge of farmers about the soil quality and on management practices that promote soil quality, many widely referenced in scientific literature. The quantitative assessments related to the soil quality in agroecosystems showed satisfactory data, with better results than the minimum levels found in the scientific literature for the chemical, physical and biological characteristics, being the pH an exception, acid on some opportunities. At large, the handling executed by the farmers included in this study is coherent with their complex visions of soil quality, nevertheless were observed limitations of different nature in the implementation of handling practices. The aim limitations found were the small farmers’land, which difficult or hamper to perform set-aside, the lack of access to seeds of recommended species to green manure and the lack of access to sources of manure to be applied organic fertilization