Reviewing the situation of quinoa production in southern Bolivia, Jacobsen (2011, J. Agron. Crop Sci. 197: 390) argues that the booming export market has a negative effect on the environment and on the home consumption of quinoa, thereby leading to an environmental disaster in the region. In view of the scarcity of scientific knowledge on the rapid social and environmental dynamics in the region, we consider that Jacobsen’s review misrepresents the situation of quinoa production in southern Bolivia. Specifically, we argue that (i) the data presented by Jacobsen (2011, J. Agron. Crop Sci. 197: 390) do not support any drop in quinoa crop yield supposed to reflect soil degradation and (ii) his demonstration regarding home consumption of quinoa is ill‐founded from both a nutritional and a cultural point of view. We suggest that the diffusion of the arguments exposed by Jacobsen (2011, J. Agron. Crop Sci. 197: 390), because of their flaws, might have strong negative impacts on those concerned with sustainable food production and fair‐trade with developing countries. We conclude that, rather than reinforced agro‐technical controls on local farmers, the rising competition in the international quinoa market requires a shift towards an ethical economy and ethical research cooperation with quinoa producers.

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Agricultural globalization is blamed for destructive impacts on small farms in developing countries. Yet, many local societies are proactive in the face of these changes and show high adaptive capacity. Investigating their transformations with an integrative perspective and enough hindsight may reveal some of the bases of their resilience and adaptive capacity. Using field data and the panarchy concept of resilience theory, we analyzed the territorial and social dynamics of quinoa growers' communities in southern Bolivia over the last four decades, a case study of regime shift in a poverty-stricken rural society which deliberately entered the global food market. Linking the dynamics of the household economy to the territorial and social subsystems over several decades, we gained insights into the interactions that shaped the rise of quinoa production in the region. We found that a vivid tradition of mobility allowing for pluriactivity on- and off-farm, combined with community self-governance, explains how local populations succeeded in articulating individual agency with collective control over their commons of land, seed resources, and social rules. Our vulnerability analysis points to landscape homogenization, social inequity, and increased dependence on external factors as potential sources of unsustainability. We conclude that, to cope with the changes of unprecedented magnitude they are facing, local producers should retain social cohesion and autonomous governance, without giving up on their heritage of mobility and economic redundancy. As regards theory, we identified cross-scale subsystem configurations critical for regime shifts, and confirm the value of panarchy in capturing complex socioecological dynamics. (Résumé d'auteur

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-Livestock production systems in the Amazon have caused substantial environmental damage. With the pressure to improve and increase production on limited lands, and the new ways of evaluating systems, farmers are looking for alternatives to livestock production. The scientific community began to promote incorporating trees as a component of livestock systems, as an alternative to livestock specialization. However, these systems were not adopted as expected. One of the hypotheses is that this alternative requires a complicated management. In this context, the objective of this study was to describe the implications for the management of cattle farms and the work necessary to include an integrated croplivestock-forestry system (CLFIS) in cattle farms in Roraima State. To address this objective, we used secondary government data, interviews, and farm monitoring. The results showed that, regardless of the scale of production, more components in the CLFIS result in more activity differentiation, more diversification of knowledge and work, and a more complicated management. In conclusion, the adoption of a CLFIS to replace the exclusive production of livestock results in losing the flexibility and characteristics of livestock production in Amazonia. The increase in the average age and the low level of schooling of farmers and rural workers are factors that make it difficult for them to internalize, understand and adopt CLFIS. Labour and management are complicating factors contributing to the low level of CLFIS adoption by Roraima State farmers.Keywords: labour / skill training / farm management / agrosilvopastoral systems / agroforestry Résumé -Gestion et travail dans les systèmes intégrés culture-élevage-forêt dans l'État du Roraima, Amazonie brésilienne. En Amazonie, les systèmes d'élevage ont causé de nombreux dommages environnementaux. Mis sous pression par des réglementations strictes, par de nouvelles méthodes d'évaluation et par la nécessité de produire plus sur des surfaces désormais restreintes, les producteurs cherchent des alternatives. La communauté scientifique a commencé à promouvoir des systèmes agricoles intégrant une composante arborée comme alternative aux monocultures et à la spécialisation en élevage. Cependant, ces systèmes n'ont pas atteint les niveaux d'adoption espérés. Une des hypothèses est la gestion très compliquée qu'ils demandent. Dans ce contexte, l'objectif de cette étude est de décrire les implications en termes de gestion du travail liées à ces systèmes dans les fermes bovines de l'État de Roraima, au nord de l'Amazonie brésilienne. Pour atteindre cet objectif, nous avons utilisé des données secondaires publiques, des entretiens et des suivis d'exploitations. Les résultats montrent que, indépendamment de l'échelle de production, la multiplicité des composantes des systèmes agriculture-élevage-forêt (CLFIS) se traduit par des activités plus différenciées, par davantage de diversification des connaissances et du travail, et par une gestion plus compliquée. En conclusion, l'adop...

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A propriedade agrícola é cada vez mais reconhecida como um objeto de estudo complexo. Isso se torna importante quando nela se intervém para fornecer um conselho de orientação ou uma ajuda à gestão, ou, num quadro mais amplo, no âmbito de um plano de desenvolvimento rural. Nos estabelecimentos leiteiros das frentes pioneiras da Amazônia, cuja diversidade de funcionamento é particularmente marcante, a modelagem da diversidade, graças à construção de tipologias, representa uma etapa importante para a organização do desenvolvimento agrícola. A partir do caso das explorações leiteiras no município de Uruará, na frente pioneira da Transamazônica, foram identificados cincos principais tipos de sistemas de produção de leite e trajetórias desses. A combinação dessas duas tipologias levou a caracterizar as principais dinâmicas possíveis dentro da diversidade dos sistemas leiteiros, representando as principais evoluções entre os tipos de propriedades. Os resultados salientam a importância de fatores socioeconômicos na implementação e desenvolvimento da atividade leiteira. Nesse contexto, as propostas formuladas devem favorecer a integração da produção leiteira, a sua permanência e a melhoria das condições de produção.
The farm is each time more recognized as an object of complex study. This if becomes important when the farm is the object to supply an advice of orientation or an aid to the management, or the scope of a plan of agricultural development. For the dairy farms in agricultural borders of the Amazon, characterized by an important diversity of operation mode, the modeling of the diversity with the elaboration of typologies is an important stage for the organization of the agricultural development. From the case of dairy farms in Uruará municipio, situated on the Transamazonian frontier region, five main types of systems of milk production and theirs trajectories had been identified. Associating these two typologies, it was possible to identify the main dynamics within the diversity of the dairy systems, which represent principal evolutions between groups of farms. The results emphasize the importance of socioeconomics factors for the installation and the development of the dairy production. Inside this context, proposals can be formulated to promote the beginning of the dairy production, its stability and the improvement of the conditions of production