A PEQUENA PRODUÇÃO AGRÍCOLA: SISTEMAS DE PRODUÇÃO E DESEMPENHO

Abstract

Most rural production units in the municipality of Erechim (RS, Brazil) are small farms. This municipality is our study area. The focus of the study is on production organization, employment, technology and farm family income of four small farm systems and eight subsystems of those farms. Corn, soybeans and wheat are the main crops and the basic source of production value. But, dairy cattle, hogs and chicken are also generally produced by the farmers. A comparison of "family size" to "family labor force on the farm" and "farm size" indicated a closer relation of the "family labor force on the farm" with the "farm size" than between the "family size" and "farm size", indicating employment oportunity as a condition for the farmers to remain on the fann.