Under the sign of invisibility: Rural workers in family peach production in the extreme south of Brazil

Abstract

The institutionalization process of family farming represents a turning point in Brazilian agrarian history. State and civil society recognize the vocation of a social category that is central to the national food supply. Nevertheless, little attention is paid to the role of family farming in generating employment and income in rural areas. In the southern states of Brazil, the production of peaches is one of the activities that employs many independent workers at certain stages of the production cycle. From the theoretical point of view, this reality serves to break with the myth that the family unit of production is sufficient for itself or that it is essentially the medium and large farms that employ rural labor. This article explores these and other issues based on fieldwork based on qualitative methodology with an emphasis on interviews with several actors using a semi-structured script. This study demonstrates the essentiality of the contracted work, but also the invisibility and clandestine nature of the relationships between family farmers and seasonal workers.