Habilidades sociais no mercado de leite

Abstract

O crescimento de cooperativas de agricultores familiares na região Sul do Brasil contradiz a maioria dos estudos de mercado, que prevêem um processo inexorável de globalização, concentração de mercado e exclusão dos produtores mais pobres. O objetivo deste artigo é discutir como as cooperativas conseguiram garantir a estabilidade da oferta de leite em um ambiente competitivo, mesmo dispondo de poucos recursos econômicos. O artigo aponta que as habilidades sociais das cooperativas foram decisivas na defi nição de sua posição de destaque nesse mercado. Essas habilidades expressam-se na capacidade de mobilizar capital social e simbólico, de formar uma nova identidade social em torno da produção familiar de leite, de estimular a cooperação e manter estáveis as relações com os seus fornecedores. A conclusão deste trabalho aponta que só uma abordagem territorial desses mercados pode nos ajudar a compreender por que são formadas variadas organizações de produtores e por que fatores não econômicos são determinantes para a concorrência. Reginaldo Sales Magalhães

Horizontal arrangements: strategy for reducing the asymmetry information for dairy farmers in Paraná, Brazil

“…Considering the price of milk in transactions between dairy farmers and industries, it is important to mention that it is not merely a function of product supply and demand, but rather related to the bargaining power of agents in transaction, resulted from social structures established in rural production (MAGALHÃES, 2007). FERNANDEZ-STARK et al (2012) consider the bargaining power of low and medium-income farmers to be increased when farmers have greater information access, either arising directly from the relationship with the buyer or obtained from the network among farmers.…”

“…However, DAS is still undergoing an economic and productive process, due to institutional and market changes that began in the 90s. The relation of purchase and sale (transactions) between dairy farmers and industry was no longer local and regulated (MAGALHÃES, 2007), to be defined mainly by criteria of physicochemical milk quality and by milk volume marketed. Moreover, given the method as those transactions were formatted, a space was opened for opportunistic behavior, mainly due to the information asymmetry about the characteristics of transactions.…”

“…Considering those conditions, the construction of vertical and horizontal organizational arrangements in rural production, especially for low-income dairy farmers, may represent an important strategy for supporting dairy business (MAGALHÃES, 2007). In this paper, vertical arrangements are defined as economic or social relations between agents of different levels of a supply chain, such as suppliers and buyers; while horizontal arrangements (HA) are defined as economic or social relations among actors of the same level of a supply chain, such as a group of farmers (BAUM & INGRAM, 2002).…”

Information asymmetry among dairy producers in Paraná, Brazil

“…The new form of transaction with the industry can generate information asymmetry and opportunism (Brito et al, 2015a;Magalhães, 2007), thereby reducing the competitiveness 4 of dairy farmers. Participation in farmers' organizations, which stimulate horizontal agreements and arrangements, can help counteract these problems (Brito et al, 2015a;Magalhães, 2007). Farmers' organizations include production associations, cooperatives, and horizontal collaborations.…”

Typology of dairy production systems that meet Brazilian standards for milk quality

“…The volume of milk sold by the rural producer to the industry affects the price of milk; producers are paid better prices for larger volumes of milk (Magalhães, 2007;Bánkuti et al, 2008). For the industry, the higher price is compensated by a reduced freight cost.…”