Instituições na pecuária de corte e sua influência sobre o avanço da sojicultura na campanha gaúcha

Abstract

Livestock production is historically characterized as the main economic activity of the Pampa Gaucho. However, in the last decades with the introduction of new farming systems and the diversification of productive activities in rural organizations, areas traditionally destined to livestock production have given way to crops, evidencing the growth of areas planted with grains, mainly soybeans in half south of Rio Grande do Sul. The transformation of the livestock production scenario, therefore, exposes a rich empirical reality for an analysis based on the Institutional Economy. Thus, the objective of the dissertation was to analyze the institutions of the cattle ranching and its influence on the soybean advance in the Campanha Gaúcha. The methodological proposal of the dissertation was based on the use of primary data. A semi-structured questionnaire was applied to a sample of 95 ranchers, of which 53 Traditional Cattle Raisers and 42 Pecuaristas Sojicultores, between June and November of 2017, were used to identify the profile and the institutions present in the Campanha Gaúcha. Data analysis followed techniques of descriptive statistics, factorial analysis, hypothesis testing and multiple linear regression. Some similarities were observed in the socioeconomic and productive profile of the farmers sampled. The primary data indicated that livestock farming is carried out in a variety of land structures. The cattle herd in the rural organizations presents a diverse size and, although the cultivation of soybean plantations occurs in the organizations of the Soybeans Farmers, the livestock activity remains an important economic exploitation. It was verified that the institutions present in the new dynamics of the livestock of the Region of the Campaign present connection with the past, the culture and the tradition of the activity. The results of the exploratory factorial analysis identified the presence of four factors: Behavioral Institutions, Socioenvironmental Institutions, Economic Institutions, and Organizational Institutions. The results of the hypothesis tests identified differences between the institutions present in the decisions of the Traditional Farmers, these linked to behavioral and socioenvironmental institutions and to the process of path dependence, and the Soybeans Farmers that presented higher averages in variables of Economic and Organizational Institutions. The results of the linear regression indicated a positive influence of the economic institutions in the advance of soybean cultivation in the organizations. Regarding behavioral and socioenvironmental institutions, the regression model identified that the higher the presence of these institutions in the behavior of small farmers is the presence of soybean cultivation in rural organizations. It is concluded that to understand the new dynamics established in the cattle ranching of the Campanha Gaúcha means to recognize the individual as determinant of the choice of his productive activities, influenced by his motivations, habits of thought and collective actions. Reinforcing the importance of using the institutional approach, as well as institutions (formal and informal), not only as components of analysis, but as the main agent in the transformations that occur in organizations and rural areas.