Paulo Niederle- PhD in Social Sciences
- Professor at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Paulo Niederle
- PhD in Social Sciences
- Professor at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Professor of agrifood studies and economic sociology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre Brazil
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164
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Introduction
I've been working with issues related to food markets and public policies for agroecological transitions.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
January 2011 - January 2014
February 2011 - present
Education
March 2007 - February 2011
February 2005 - February 2007
Publications
Publications (164)
The food regime approach occupies a privileged place in the sociology of agriculture and food. However, it is criticized for its structural, universalist and homogenizing bias. From a dialogue between institutionalism and pragmatism, this contribution discusses an alternative framework constructed from the ‘social order’ concept, which defines the...
Comentários sobre o livro
"Em diálogo com as principais referências analíticas, tanto brasileiras como mundiais, os autores criam uma síntese original de abordagens da teoria das convenções, neoinstitucionalistas e da teoria das práticas, captada na noção de “ordens sociais”. Num trabalho ambicioso e convincente, as grandes transformações do agroa...
RESUMO O artigo analisa a atuação da Reunião Especializada sobre Agricultura Familiar (REAF) como fórum público e ator coletivo que coordena um processo de construção, transferência e tradução de políticas de desenvolvimento rural no Mercosul. O objetivo consiste em analisar o modo como ideias, políticas e instrumentos de ação pública para a agricu...
This article analyzes the conservative narratives underlying current changes in Brazilian rural development public policies. It first presents an overview of the recognition and institutionalization of family farming and the main policies created in support of this segment. Subsequently, it discusses how a conservative narrative started to question...
This article examines how the political construction of food markets acts as a strategy for collective action with regards to three rural movements in Brazil: CONTAG, the MST, and Rede Ecovida. Each used food markets to confront the effects of a regime change that occurred with the rise of a populist authoritarian government. The research for this...
Debates about the effects of covid-19 on the dynamics of food systems abounded in the last years. Initial analyses projected major changes in these dynamics due to, among other things, the digitisation of markets. Based on data collected between 2020 e 2023 by means of direct observations and 64 semi-structured interviews with farmers, rural extens...
A transição para sistemas alimentares sustentáveis tem ocupado lugar central na agenda de organizações, governos e empresas. Embora o tema comporte em si mesmo um horizonte de futuro, as discussões frequentemente limitam-se a diagnósticos sobre a trajetória histórica das transformações na agricultura. De outro modo, em diálogo com a literatura soci...
Chapter 11 uses the norm entrepreneurs framing to elucidate changes in South American cross-border governance of food and nutritional security. The chapter traces the process by which activists in Southern Brazil, whose initial goal was to preserve the economic viability of family farms facing severe competitive pressures from giant agribusiness fi...
In this article, we analyse the tensions associated with the emergence of microorganism-based agricultural inputs in two Latin American countries, Brazil and Mexico. More specifically, we examine the ways in which these technologies, which are based on the use of living organisms, leave public microbiology research laboratories and are further deve...
O artigo analisa as habilidades sociais mobilizadas no enfrentamento à pandemia da Covid-19 a partir da construção de mercados alimentares territoriais. Em diálogo com a Teoria dos Campos de Ação Estratégica, foram analisadas estratégias de digitalização dos processos de comercialização empreendidas por atores hábeis e suas coalizões políticas em d...
Desde 2023, pesquisadores de diferentes universidades e instituições de pesquisa estão articulados em um projeto que identifica e analisa experiências de ativismo alimentar e politização da alimentação em capitais e regiões metropolitanas brasileiras. O projeto é financiado pelo Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) e...
This report presents the results of a prospective research that, taking the next decade as the temporal horizon, identifies imagined futures for family farming and agroecological transition processes in the North Coast of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil. The study was conducted between May and December 2023 and consisted of arti...
Comer é mais que ingerir alimentos, compreende as relações pessoais, sociais, culturais, econômicas e políticas que estão envolvidas no ato de alimentar-se. Práticas alimentares são um patrimônio cultural, imbuídas de valor simbólico, de grupos sociais específicos, inseridos em seu território. Elas evoluem no tempo e conectam-se entre si, são respo...
Over the last two decades, economics and sociology of conventions (in short EC/SC) have established themselves as one of the main approaches to agro-food studies. Although this theoretical movement is more visible in Europe, it also has repercussions in other contexts. In Latin America, it was boosted by research on the so called “quality turn” pro...
El presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ha emprendido esfuerzos para reposicionar a Brasil en las iniciativas mundiales de sostenibilidad, agricultura y alimentación. Sin embargo, el liderazgo del país está siendo puesto a prueba por la incapacidad del nuevo gobierno para implantar reformas que reviertan el desmantelamiento institucional realizado...
Markets for agroecological food and inputs are actively shaping ecological
forms of agriculture. The processes that set up these two sets of markets, both upstream and downstream of farms, have an impact on agricultural systems and practices. To defend this thesis, we introduce results from ongoing studies over the past fifteen years of different...
The article discusses changes in Brazilian agricultural policies under the Jair Bolsonaro government. It mobilises three categories of analysis: political change, dismantling and deregulation of public policies. After an introduction setting out the problem and the framework for analysis, the text has three sections. The first deals with the disman...
O artigo discute as possibilidades e os desafios de estruturar políticas alimentares orientadas para uma gestão estratégica das práticas sociais. Com base na experiência acumulada, no estudo de várias políticas brasileiras de desenvolvimento rural, incialmente analisamos os limites dos programas orientados aos beneficiários e, em seguida, propomos...
The article analyses the changes in the Brazilian government's actions at the Specialized Meeting on Family Farming of Mercosur (REAF). Created in 2004, REAF is a regional forum for political dialogue between governments and social organizations to develop public policies for family farming. Drawing on dialogues between historical neo-institutional...
This article presents a comparative institutional analysis of the peasant movements’ activism for the construction of new food markets in Brazil and Chile. Data were collected between March 2016 and December 2018 through interviews with leaders of these movements, policymakers and direct observation of different marketing initiatives. The results r...
The debate concerning the need for significant transformations towards more nutrition oriented, environmentally sustainable and inclusive food systems has generated increased attention towards agroecology in recent years. Literature on this subject has already demonstrated that transitions to agroecology will be context specific, as countries and r...
Brazil is one of the few countries that has implemented policies aimed at supporting agroecological transition processes on a national scale. While its experience has caught the attention of the international community interested in building sustainable and healthy food systems, recent literature points to the dismantling of these policies. This ar...
The literature on collective action has poorly addressed processes of incremental institutional changes within organizations. This paper helps fill this gap by shedding light on how the community-based management of an organic label has changed following its formal recognition as a ‘participatory guarantee system’ (PGS). Ostrom and Basurto's (2011)...
O artigo discute o ativismo afrovegano nas mídias sociais a partir da análise do perfil no Instagram de atores-chave deste movimento. Entre março e julho de 2020, identificamos perfis públicos de usuários que se autodeclaram afroveganos. Em seguida, analisamos as descrições públicas, o número de seguidores, a frequência das postagens e as reações d...
Food problems are the order of the day. Solving the problems of hunger and malnutrition, producing and guaranteeing access to healthy food, preserving the environment, valuing local cultures and ensuring citizen participation are some of the many challenges that permeate the dynamics of food systems. This book addresses the role of Latin American p...
A digitalização vem sendo incorporada aos sistemas agroali- mentares de maneira muito intensa e heterogênea. No que concerne aos mercados alimentares, boa parte das análises aponta para uma ten- dência de oligopolização e precarização das condições de trabalho, es- pecialmente quando se trata de mercados digitais que operam por meio de grandes mark...
The article analyzes if the participative production of a device, the organic certification label, reinforces or jeopardizes its institutional strength, that is, its ability to guide the action of the actors and avoid critical tensions that question its legitimacy. This question emerges from a paradox found in the literature on markets and institut...
O objetivo deste verbete é precisamente argumentar por que os mercados e, mais especificamente, os processos de construção social dos mercados, são tão essenciais para a agroecologia. Para tanto, primeiro apresentamos a compreensão de agroecologia que nos orienta nesta reflexão. Em seguida, discutimos o papel dos mercados em face desta compreensão....
Em outubro de 2020, desenhamos um projeto interinstitucional de pesquisa para, com apoio da Cátedra Itinerante Inclusão Produtiva no Brasil rural e interiorano do Cebrap Sustentabilidade, analisar as plataformas digitais de comercialização criadas por pequenas cooperativas de agricultores familiares e consumidores no estado do Rio
Grande do Sul. Es...
Na sociedade globalizada as tecnologias de informação e comunicação geraram novas estruturações dos fluxos sociais e econômicos através das redes. Hoje está claro que a mediação digital da vida social é fato consolidado e se expande em múltiplas dimensões e escalas. Já é praticamente impossível trabalhar, produzir e consumir prescindindo das tecnol...
O artigo analisa as convergências entre as práticas alimentares dos adeptos do veganismo e aquelas promovidas pelo movimento agroecológico. Mais especificamente, busca compreender como práticas cotidianas de restaurantes veganos, e seus consumidores, contribuem para a construção de sistemas alimentares saudáveis e sustentáveis nos termos defendidos...
Los problemas alimentarios están a la orden del día. Resolver el problema del hambre y la desnutrición, producir y garantizar el acceso a alimentos saludables, preservar el medio ambiente, valorar las culturas locales y asegurar la participación ciudadana son algunos de los desafíos que permean la dinámica de los sistemas alimentarios. Desde difere...
The article discusses how institutionalist approaches have contributed to the production of new understandings about the reconfigurations of capitalism. The focus is on the political production of institutional changes that have given rise to new dynamics of accumulation in three key sectors of the Brazilian economy: agriculture, mining and air tra...
As micro e pequenas empresas representam uma parcela importante na economia brasileira. Além de atuarem no mercado nacional, elas também exercem atividades de mercado internacional. Entretanto, essa participação não possui números expressivos. Neste contexto, este trabalho busca apresentar quais as políticas públicas de promoção existentes para apo...
Los problemas alimentarios están a la orden del día. Resolver el proble-ma del hambre y la desnutrición, producir y garantizar el acceso a alimentos saludables, preservar el medio ambiente, valorar las cultu-ras locales y asegurar la participa-ción ciudadana son algunos de los desafíos que permean la dinámica de los sistemas alimentarios. Des-de di...
O Brasil é um dos poucos países que implementou, em escala nacional, políticas públicas especificamente voltadas a apoiar processos de transição agroecológica. Atualmente, ao mesmo tempo em que sua experiência tem chamado a atenção da comunidade internacional interessada na construção de sistemas alimentares sustentáveis e saudáveis, a literatura a...
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operate in the Brazilian Amazon, mobilizing actors and resources to promote sustainability, mainly by supporting the construction of alternative farming systems. The main efforts are focused on reducing deforestation by means of agroforestry projects, which are introduced as alternatives to extensive livestock...
This article analyzes the dismantling of the Specialized Meeting on Family Farming (Reaf), a Mercosur forum responsible for proposing public policies for family farmers. The main objective here is to analyze the implications of this process and the mechanisms used in order to characterize the predominant type of dismantling. Data were collected bet...
One of the main dilemmas faced by small-scale farmers’ movements advocating for agroecology in Latin America lies in the trade-offs between the economic opportunities arising from the organic food market expansion, and the political principles at the core of their action. To provide insights on this issue, a survey was performed in Brazil and Chile...
The article analyzes the causes and consequences of the recent increase in food prices in Brazil. Initially, we identified the main causes of the phenomenon, seeking to identify the extent to which it responds to the new dynamics of consumption and commercialization created by the pandemic or other economic and political factors. Then, we highlight...
O artigo compara a difusão das políticas públicas de agroecologia e de compras públicas dos alimentos da agricultura familiar no Mercosul. Partindo dos resultados de pesquisas anteriores que apontaram para o papel central de organizações multilaterais e da Reunião Especializada de Agricultura Familiar (Reaf) na difusão das políticas de compras públ...
Latin American agroecology proposes a transformation of conventional agri-food systems. It is driven by social movements that have succeeded in forming coalitions that have promoted its integration into public policies. These policies involve a range of instruments that are often embedded in programs that also support organic agriculture and sustai...
Abstract – The dismantling of the rural and environmental public policies in Brazil. The article deals with the modalities of the recent dismantling of rural and environmental public policies with a hindsight of a few years by mobilizing the examination of several components: land, family farming, rural territorial development, agroecology and the...
Este artigo analisa os impactos do Pronaf à inclusão produtiva dos agricultores familiares do estado do Tocantins na percepção de mediadores que atuam com este público. A pesquisa é qualitativa e fundamenta-se em informações coletadas por meio de entrevistas realizadas em 2018. Os resultados apontam que o Pronaf é uma das principais políticas de in...
This article analyzes the factors of institutional differentiation in the processes of participatory certification of organic products. The research conducted with the participatory conformity assessment bodies (OPACs) in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, initially aimed to answer whether they were converging to similar organizational structures and...
This book explores the agrifood system transitions in Brazil to provide a new understanding of the trajectory of agriculture and rural development in this country. It accentuates the increasing diversifi cation and hybridization of food production and consumption practices throughout history.
With a framework that combines convention theory, neoin...
This article discusses if and how the practices of vegan restaurants and their consumers converge towards the construction of sustainable food systems. Analysis is supported by concepts issue from Practice Theory and is based on data collected between October 2018 and April 2019 with owners, chefs, nutritionists, managers, and consumers of vegan re...
Este artículo discute las interpretaciones de los movimientos sociales acerca de las políticas del Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo Agropecuario (Indap) para la construcción de mercados alimentarios para la agricultura familiar campesina en Chile. La investigación fue realizada entre octubre de 2017 y febrero de 2018, por medio de entrevistas con l...
This article analyzes the trajectory of agroecology policies in Brazil. The methodology includes an extended literature review and interviews with key actors based on a framework that drew from
that of the sociology of public action. The results indicate that the formation of a coalition of social movements has played a major role in the adoption o...
Institutional change and diversity have been two major topics of debate in contemporary social sciences. At the core of this debate are actors’ skills to manage the institutional frame that defines limits and possibilities for their strategies. This article analyses how social movements produce institutional change and diversity in the organic food...
Um dos principais projetos encabeçados pelo regime militar brasileiro foi a colonização da Amazônia, que estimulou a ocupação massiva deste território, mobilizando enormes contingentes de indivíduos das mais diferentes regiões do país. O objetivo deste artigo é compreender os mecanismos discursivos para a produção das migrações para a Amazônia, ate...
Professor da Universidade Estadual Sam Houston, Texas, Alessandro Bonanno é um dos expoentes da sociologia da agricultura e alimentação. Suas publicações sobre os impactos dos processos de globalização para a reorganização das relações de produção e trabalho na agricultura são referências obrigatórias nos estudos
rurais. Dentre suas publicações mai...
O artigo discute a construção social dos mercados institucionais para a agricultura familiar, colocando ênfase nas “novidades” em práticas, processos e formas de organização que são desenvolvidas e utilizadas pelos agricultores familiares visando o acesso às compras públicas e a superação de algumas de suas limitações. Para esta reflexão, o artigo...
The article deals with the modalities of the recent dismantling of rural and environmental public policies with a hindsight of a few years by mobilizing the examination of several components: land, family farming, rural territorial development, agroecology and the environment. The analysis focuses on the last three governments
(Rousseff, Temer and...
The ‘food regime’ approach was introduced as a historical method of “incorporated comparison” (P. McMichael). This comparison of the role of agriculture in the world-system made some scholars overemphasize an excessively unitary and coherent global food regime. The authors recognize this approach as a historical-comparative analytical tool to under...
Latin America and the Caribbean are regions especially interesting to analyse the emergence and development of alternative food and production models with the aim of addressing environmental, social, economic and public health issues.
Since the 1960s, this wider region has been threatened by the excesses of the conventional agriculture based on the...
Este artigo tem por objetivo relatar a experiência das estratégias utilizadas de comercialização do pescado da agricultura familiar para a alimentação escolar adotadas no Tocantins, por meio da articulação de diferentes competências interinstitucionais a fim de promover o desenvolvimento rural e a segurança alimentar pelo incentivo ao consumo de pe...
Although institutionalist theories are generally mobilized to interpret social reproduction, they are also useful to understand episodes of institutional change. With this purpose, we analyze in this paper the contribution of Neil Fligstein and Doug McAdam’s Strategic Action Fields theory. Initially, focusing on the institutions’ existential functi...
Latin America and the Caribbean are regions especially interesting to analyse the emergence and development of alternative food and production models with the aim of addressing environmental, social, economic and public health issues.
Since the 1960s, this wider region has been threatened by the excesses of the conventional agriculture based on the...
L’Amérique Latine et la Caraïbe constituent une région particulièrement intéressante en matière d’émergence et de développement de modèles productifs et alimentaires alternatifs, visant à répondre aux enjeux environnementaux, sociaux, économiques et de santé publique. En effet, cette région est particulièrement confrontée aux impasses et dérives d’...
Despite very different agrarian histories, Brazil and Russia have revealed some similarities concerning their insertion into the global food markets. One of these is the fact that both countries are now leading players in two of the most important global commodity chains. Brazil is already the main soy exporter in the world, whereas Russia is now c...
This paper presents elements of a transversal and comparative synthesis of a research focusing on the processes of construction of State Policies for Agroecology and Organic Production (PEAPOs) in 11 Brazilian federated states. Based on information originated from documentary analysis and semi-directive interviews of actors and managers, we designe...
Geographical indications (GIs) were initially established as public instruments to inhibit the unfair appropriation of a territory’s reputation. With their inclusion in the terms of the widely adopted agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and their subsequent international d...
Resumo: Enquanto assentamento forjado no plano de reforma agrária do governo militar, o Projeto de Assentamento Dirigido (PA) Juma, no município de Apuí, constitui-se atualmente como uma das fronteiras do desmatamento na Amazônia. A partir de uma perspectiva neoinstitucional, este artigo analisa como a emergência da pecuária extensiva-principal vet...
Au Brésil comme en France se sont forgées des politiques publiques s’appuyant sur la notion d’agroécologie. Si les agricultures française et brésilienne sont très différentes, dans les deux cas ces politiques publiques sont le produit d’un processus de mise en politique de l’agroécologie qui résulte des interactions entre différents mondes sociaux...
This paper presents elements of a transversal and comparative synthesis of a research focusing on the processes of construction of State Policies for Agroecology and Organic Production (PEAPOs) in 11 Brazilian federated states. Based on information originated from documentary analysis and semi-directive interviews of actors and managers, we designe...
As consequências da expansão do "regime alimentar corporativo" (McMichael, 2016) têm suscitado contramovimentos que conjugam uma crítica cívica, cujo fundamento encontra-se nas demandas societárias por equidade, justiça, participação social e sustentabilidade. Estes valores têm legitimado a ação de diferentes movimentos sociais que se orientam pela...
