Study goals
The study aims to categorize and assess family farming's performance in Rio Grande do Sul and its connections to Sustainable Regional Development (SRD), highlighting its impact on food production in the state.
Relevance / originality
The significance of this research lies in identifying and categorizing patterns in local family farming activities and how they interact with economic performance, efficiency, and sustainability in the region. Additionally, the applied methodology introduces innovation to the current discourse on this subject.
Methodology / approach
Data from the 2017 Agricultural Census are used to develop a geographic taxonomy of this activity. Additionally, univariate and multivariate quantitative analysis methods (ANOVA and MANOVA), hierarchical clustering and k-means are used to classify and evaluate the performance of the identified groups.
Main results
The measurement of performance regarding employment, income, area, market participation, and sustainability variables evidenced that the state has a small group of highly productive municipalities, one leveraged through Pronaf, another with sustainable production, and a larger incipient one.
Theoretical / methodological contributions
Potential contribution to a better understanding of research gaps in family farming: impact of public policies, adoption of sustainable practices, connections to sustainable food systems, and competitive advantages for the segment.
Social / management contributions
It was possible to present a model that provides more accurate information about productive results and sustainable practices. Furthermore, the research findings offer various contributions to understanding the effect of sustainable approaches on performance, assisting in the formulation of public development policies.