Vida associativa: um estudo a partir da organização de produtores de alimentos orgânicos em Juiz de Fora e região

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to investigate the forms of agency, as well as the social bonds established between small producers, family farmers, organic food consumers and rural extension technicians participating in the association MOGICO (Monte de Gente Interessada em Cultivo Orgânico) located in the city of Juiz de Fora and cities nearby. The research was developed through a microsociological perspective drawn from fieldwork and ethnography on the daily life of the association. It aims to recognize how “associative life” is carried out, especially based on the forms of organization and practices established by the actors participating in the association, among which the participatory certification process responsible for the compliance of organic production stands out. In the first chapter of this dissertation I sought to recover the history of the actors' formation, both on a national scale, through the wake of the National Policy for Agroecology and Organic Production (PNAPO) movement, and on a local scale, through the emergence of the association from a school community connected with the principles of Waldorf Pedagogy in Juiz de Fora. Parallel to this, several local actions and policies begin to emerge on a local and regional scale, involving universities, public and private institutions, non-governmental organizations, technological incubators and other actors in an agenda of meetings, courses and workshops in the search for strengthening the network of agroecology and organic production movement in Juiz de Fora and cities nearby. In a second moment, I sought to reflect on the symbolic construction of the cultural movement of food production and consumption of organic agriculture, based on its institutionalization process, taking as a background the contextualization of some experiences of small producers, whether male or female farmers of urban origin and family farmers who belong to the MOGICO association. To highlight the importance of institutionalizing Organic Agriculture (OA), I also sought to describe the association's activities, such as field days, verification visits and meetings between its members participating in the association's Participatory Guarantee System (PGS). In the last part, the text contributes to the reflection on associative life, based on the organization of meetings and encounters, the process of collective action and mobilization, as well as the use of social technology, especially when exploring ideas that emerge through social metamorphosis and the new local political agenda, as a process of “association of associations”. In other words, I sought to analyze the proliferation of new actors that emerge in search of articulation and social construction, as well as their strategies to follow a path of strengthening agroecology and organic production in the form of a network.