Consumo de alimentos orgânicos no Rio Grande do Sul: uma análise da percepção dos agricultores familiares a respeito de dois períodos, antes e durante a pandemia da Covid-19

Abstract

Agriculture went through an atypical period, starting in 2019 and extending until 2021 with a considerable number of Covid cases. The family farming sector was one of the sectors that had the greatest difficulties and that has been trying to adapt by creating mechanisms to be able to sell its production, thus supporting families that depend on the sale of organic food. In this context, this study sought to identify how family farmers began to market their products at organic fairs or other virtual means, and whether the consumption of these products increased or decreased with the advancement of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this, the following general objective was defined: to identify the changes that occur in the consumption of organic producers during the pandemic, according to the perception of family farmers who sell products through fairs or other virtual means in Rio Grande do Sul. In view of this, the advance of organic production was described, covering the world scenario and the effects of the pandemic on organic markets, adaptation of Brazilian family farming in the face of the pandemic situation and the modern marketing dynamics created to dispose of the production of organic products from the family farming. For that, we opted for the descriptive methodology, presenting a qualitative character to analyze the data referring to the information coming from the family farmers. Among the main results, it was evident that the organic market has a high growth trend, since the production of organic becomes beneficial for family farmers, even not participating in government programs, due to the desire of consumers to buy, since that health and care for the environment are the factors that most matter and influence when buying this food.