Percepção sobre sustentabilidade por agricultores familiares produtores de leite no município de Oliveira - MG

Abstract

This research analyzes how family farmers engaged in dairy production in Oliveira, Minas Gerais, perceive and experience sustainability in their productive practices, understanding it as a situated social construction, historically conditioned and not as a previously defined normative technical concept. Based on a qualitative approach, with the application of semi-structured questionnaires and content analysis (Bardin), the results indicate that sustainability is understood as an everyday practice associated with the permanence of the family in rural areas, income stability, and the intergenerational continuity of dairy farming. The economic dimension proved to be central in this perception, marked by price instability, asymmetries in the relationship with dairy processing companies, and increasing production costs - factors that restrict planning and long-term investments. In this context, being sustainable means maintaining the economic viability of the activity, avoiding excessive indebtedness, and ensuring minimum conditions for the social reproduction of the family within the territory. From an environmental perspective, practices such as spring protection, pasture management, and the rational use of inputs are observed. These practices are based both on technical guidance and on knowledge built through practical experience, although their expansion is conditioned by concrete economic possibilities. Technical assistance and rural credit are considered relevant instruments for maintaining the activity, but they may also increase risks when primarily oriented toward productive intensification in a context of unstable markets. The study concludes that sustainability in family-based dairy farming is perceived as a relational and adaptive process that seeks to balance economic viability, environmental care, and family continuity. It therefore highlights the urgency of public policies capable of reducing asymmetries within the dairy production chain and strengthening farmers' autonomy, while recognizing and valuing the conception of sustainability constructed by the dairy producers themselves.