664
M. Dantas
5 Conclusion
This study demonstrates that institutions have an overwhelming importance not only
in the development of family farming, SSE and the promotion of sustainable agriculture, but is paramount to the wellbeing and health of peasants. It also shows that
Network organizations promote resilience if compared to individual family farming
units, especially in times of crises when under increased pressure, and time constrains
diminish farmers’ ability to participate in administrative, logistical and political roles.
It also highlights the incredible institutional power the industrial food systems holds
over most federal governments and institutions that shapes public opinion and industrial trends on food, including regarding health and economic importance.
The SDGs goals of ending poverty and hunger; promoting health and wellbeing;
providing decent work for all; sustainable use of oceans; sustainable management
of water; reducing inequality; and protect, restore and promote sustainable use of
terrestrial ecosystems that are heavily dependent on our ability to change our food
systems. The 16th and 17th goals discuss the enabling framework to implement the
changes. Goal 16 asserts the need for “effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies,” highlighting the
importance of a healthy agricultural system. The goal 17 is on partnership, and it
urges “all development actors to engage and share knowledge and resources” for the
implementation of SDGs (FAO 2015). However, even though the need to change the
industrial approach of the global food system has become harder and harder to deny,
recent political events have shown that the institutional structure is continuing to
support economic growth over peoples’ and the planet’s well-being. In Brazil, there
was a brief development of a national institutional structure towards the support of
family agriculture and economic solidarity in the last decade. It was an incomplete
construction, slow and truncated, but it seemed for a moment to be stable. After
the change in government in 2015, a lot of this structure was dismantled in a little
over a year. North (1995), talks about the change in institutional structure by the
incorporation of challenging institutions until its substitution. However, while the
alternative structure was slowly being established, there was no dismantling of support institutions for agribusiness. In fact, they have strengthened, and agribusiness
has experienced tremendous growth in the same period.
Determining what the importance of institutional spaces for the SSE and family
farmers is is complex and multifaceted. The institutional influence in the sector can
be observed long before the choices of what is going to be produced and how are
made, and goes beyond the sales or food distribution as the outcomes of institutional
involvement can affect the well-being of the people involved. Although there are
many important features observed in the scope of this case-study, a few roles stood
out.
First, is the role network, usually in the form of cooperatives. Due to the continuous pressure for increasing production and sales while decreasing prices, and
in some cases the added struggles to access minimal living conditions, cooperatives
have alienated many farmers from essential functions, such as administrative tasks
M. Dantas
5 Conclusion
This study demonstrates that institutions have an overwhelming importance not only
in the development of family farming, SSE and the promotion of sustainable agriculture, but is paramount to the wellbeing and health of peasants. It also shows that
Network organizations promote resilience if compared to individual family farming
units, especially in times of crises when under increased pressure, and time constrains
diminish farmers’ ability to participate in administrative, logistical and political roles.
It also highlights the incredible institutional power the industrial food systems holds
over most federal governments and institutions that shapes public opinion and industrial trends on food, including regarding health and economic importance.
The SDGs goals of ending poverty and hunger; promoting health and wellbeing;
providing decent work for all; sustainable use of oceans; sustainable management
of water; reducing inequality; and protect, restore and promote sustainable use of
terrestrial ecosystems that are heavily dependent on our ability to change our food
systems. The 16th and 17th goals discuss the enabling framework to implement the
changes. Goal 16 asserts the need for “effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies,” highlighting the
importance of a healthy agricultural system. The goal 17 is on partnership, and it
urges “all development actors to engage and share knowledge and resources” for the
implementation of SDGs (FAO 2015). However, even though the need to change the
industrial approach of the global food system has become harder and harder to deny,
recent political events have shown that the institutional structure is continuing to
support economic growth over peoples’ and the planet’s well-being. In Brazil, there
was a brief development of a national institutional structure towards the support of
family agriculture and economic solidarity in the last decade. It was an incomplete
construction, slow and truncated, but it seemed for a moment to be stable. After
the change in government in 2015, a lot of this structure was dismantled in a little
over a year. North (1995), talks about the change in institutional structure by the
incorporation of challenging institutions until its substitution. However, while the
alternative structure was slowly being established, there was no dismantling of support institutions for agribusiness. In fact, they have strengthened, and agribusiness
has experienced tremendous growth in the same period.
Determining what the importance of institutional spaces for the SSE and family
farmers is is complex and multifaceted. The institutional influence in the sector can
be observed long before the choices of what is going to be produced and how are
made, and goes beyond the sales or food distribution as the outcomes of institutional
involvement can affect the well-being of the people involved. Although there are
many important features observed in the scope of this case-study, a few roles stood
out.
First, is the role network, usually in the form of cooperatives. Due to the continuous pressure for increasing production and sales while decreasing prices, and
in some cases the added struggles to access minimal living conditions, cooperatives
have alienated many farmers from essential functions, such as administrative tasks