The Brazilian countryside: the emergence of a new economic and social standard

Abstract

The article analyses the book O artigo analisa o livro O mundo rural no Brasil do século 21: a formação de um novo padrão agrário e agrícola. Published in 2014, it was a vast effort aimed at interpreting the development of Brazilian agriculture in the current period. Seven themes that are identified as the main ones are here discussed: the actual existence of a new mode of accumulation on course in the sector; the new financial imperative; the meaning of “innovations”; the role of government policies under the new agricultural pattern; the chances of small farmers in face of the new context of productive intensification and, finally, demographic tendencies, which are also discussed. It is concluded that, in fact, the book represents a broad and new research agenda destined to stimulate renewed studies about the rural world in Brazil.