The socio-cultural identity of the young farmer in family viticulture and its relationship with rural succession

Abstract

The rural succession is a fundamental process to family farming and it is directly linked to the rural youth. The option to continue the parents’ profession is a result of many factors such as the construction of an identity of the farmer from socio-cultural aspects that is as important as economic factors linked to profitability and financial security. At Serra Gaúcha, a region with high levels of human development indices, the presence of young farmers in the viticulture is indispensable to agricultural and social culture sustainability. From the survey of young farmers’ profiles from Bento Gonçalves, RS, it was possible to identify factors that influence the positive construction of family farmers’, as known as a settler. The access to education and culture, quality infrastructure, and material goods, in a socialization process mediated by work in family viticulture proved to be important in young’s decision to keep living and working in the countryside. The participation in the property management and the search for technical knowledge, formal or not, also make up the scenario of establishing family rural succession, involving both young men and women, in a process of reproduction and social transformation.