Actors, conflicts and public policies for rural areas in contemporary Brazil

Abstract

The article discusses changes that took place in recent decades on the forms of organization of rural workers in Brazil, emphasizing disputes, convergences and impasses both in the relations between the actors during their constitution process, and with institutional mechanisms and public policies aimed at rural areas. From a brief overview on the changes that affected the rural environment, we discuss the political dynamics of representation regarding family farming, wage labor, and the contemporary dynamics of land disputes. We aim to show how these categories intertwine and how classificatory concerns hide the complex relationship networks that articulates different rural segments and their associations, less and less perceived as hermetic universes. Finally, we examine the growing role of agribusiness and its consequences for rural disputes and for the reconfiguration of the agrarian issue.