Schneider S., Tomazzoni G.C. Panorama of cooperativism in Brazilian agriculture in Alexander Chayanov’s perspective // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2026. V.11. №1. P. 25-54.

EDN: DRJNJY

Annotation

In the last decade, Brazil has witnessed a significant expansion of cooperativism in agriculture. However, the cooperative movement did not follow a uniform pattern, revealing asymmetries and inequalities in Brazilian cooperativism. The article aims at describing cooperativism in Brazilian agriculture, for which the authors analyze data of agricultural censuses (IBGE, 2006; 2017), using markers to distinguish socialpolitical categories of family and non-family agriculture. In addition, the authors examine variables related to gender and education characteristics of farmers, distribution of rural units by area, purpose of agricultural production, sources of income, and access to technology. According to the results, there is a significant number of farmers affiliated with cooperatives in Brazil. However, cooperativism is concentrated in one of the five macroregions of the country and is more typical for non-family rather than family agriculture. Moreover, there are differences in cooperativism by size of property, and units associated with cooperatives in Brazil are more focused on marketing their production than the non-cooperative ones, which is reflected in the share of agricultural income in the total income of farmers and their families. Based on the results, the authors reconsider the ideas of Alexander Chayanov (2017) to assess the potential of cooperativism in the development of Brazilian agriculture if based on a more planned society and economy.

Keywords

Cooperativism, agriculture, Brazil, Alexander Chayanov.  

About the authors

Sergio Schneider, DSc (Sociology), Full Professor of Sociology of Rural Development and Food Studies, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Farroupilha, Porto Alegre, State of Rio Grande do Sul, 90010-150, Brazil.
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Gean Carlos Tomazzoni, PhD (Management), Associate Professor, Federal Technological University of Paraná. Av. Sete de Setembro, 3165, Rebouças, 80230-901, Curitiba, State of Paraná, Brazil.
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