Exactly a year ago I went on training exchange program to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Porto Alegre, Brazil. I spent my time at the Faculty of Economics and its Postgraduate Program in Rural Development (PGDR) under supervision of Prof. Sergio Schneider who is currently Professor of Rural Sociology and Development Studies at UFRGS. There are many remarkable memories that easily bring me into the saudade mood when I think of Porto Alegre. People, food, city, field trips, nature and countryside, all have had their effects on me. Reflecting on the scientific saudade a few memories come in particular to my mind: Gabriel Specht and the visit to CEASA wholesale market; Bruna Bresolin and the extension work of her colleagues at Emater; municipality of Dois Irmãos and their school food program; and stay with Marcio Gazolla at the Federal University of Santa Maria in Frederico Westphalen and his work on family farms agro-industry.
Before my visit I associated Brazil with dynamism of an emerging economy that probably can be seen as part of social evolution following the end of military regimes that ruled many of the Latin American countries, including Brazil in the 1970s and 1980s. According to the UN Economic Committee for Latin America and Caribbean poverty dropped drastically during the last decade. In large part this can be explained by an increase in jobs that have been created due to the rising prices for the commodities, such as soybeans, corn, meat, fruits and other agricultural products. The economic growth can be partially dedicated to the ideas of the Brazilian economist Celso Monteiro Furtado who together with other Latin American economists sought to stimulate economic development through state intervention. A similar method can be observed today being implemented by Brazilian government through its Bolsa Familia social welfare program and Fome Zero public procurement network throughout the entire country or the decrees for National Policy on Agroecology and Organic Production.
The strong role of the Brazilian institutions represents a totally different reality from the one I have encountered during my fieldwork in Ukraine: a country with similar poverty numbers and developmental problems and alike agricultural potential but with a totally adverse role of the government or as some critics would put it no role at all or only negative one.
At the same time Brazilian society becomes more reflexive and this has had consequences for companies and its national government. 2013 will be mainly remembered for wide social unrest and street protests all over the country. One of the main criticisms I heard during my stay in Porto Alegre is that instead of becoming a healthy market economy Brazil is turning into a market society based on consumerism. Important locus in this context could be Prof. Michael Porter`s idea of shared values that can represent a point of collective reference, which goes beyond the concept of trust. In fact, this development leads to new social conventions and the state can provide infrastructure to build these conventions.
Prof. Mariana Mazzucato states in her influential publication on the role of the state in innovation processes that it is actually the government that can and should create dynamism and take the leading responsibility for economic renewal by designing new policies, as the private sector is too risk averse by nature and lacks scale and vision. Of course Brazilian agro-food companies and agro-holdings do not have problems of scale or do not suffer from lack of entrepreneurial spirit but reconstruction of the current food system requires a helping and visible hand. When it comes to rural development, agriculture, and food policy the Brazilian government seems to be more than
willing to be this entrepreneurial state.
