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Abstract: This article describes a systemic approach to analyzing issues related to food and eating, starting with a review of the different meanings and uses of the notions of food systems and agri-food chains. A systemic, multi-scale approach is developed to support the proposed notion of decentralized food systems in an attempt to account for the complementarities, conflicts, and hybridisms that result from the coexistence of distinct food systems in terms of modes of production and distribution, flows of goods, and the shaping of eating habits. Special attention is paid to localities and respective territories as analytical spheres, with the introduction of empirical evidence from two studies conducted in the Brazilian localities of Juazeiro (Bahia) and Chapecó (Santa Catarina).

Abstract: This article describes a systemic approach to analyzing issues related to food and eating, starting with a review of the different meanings and uses of the notions of food systems and agri-food chains. A systemic, multi-scale approach is developed to support the proposed notion of decentralized food systems in an attempt to account for the complementarities, conflicts, and hybridisms that result from the coexistence of distinct food systems in terms of modes of production and distribution, flows of goods, and the shaping of eating habits. Special attention is paid to localities and respective territories as analytical spheres, with the introduction of empirical evidence from two studies conducted in the Brazilian localities of Juazeiro (Bahia) and Chapecó (Santa Catarina).

Hirschman e a profanação do desenvolvimento épico na visão de um desenvolvimentista. O ensaio apresenta uma leitura da obra de Albert Hirschman "com o objetivo de destacar a sua abordagem diferenciada para o desenvolvimento econômico, enquanto explora as dimensões econômicas, sociais e políticas envolvidas na junção do crescimento econômico e da equidade social. Alguns conceitos e referências ganham importância neste esforço, como o possibilismo, racionalidades ocultas, crescimento desequilibrado, conflitos sociais, consequências não intencionais e soluções abertas. Países latino-americanos são a principal referência empírica, com preocupações específicas sobre a questão de alimentos envolvida em processos de desenvolvimento.

O artigo aborda os enfoques de sustentabilidade e de desenvolvimento rural sustentável que orientam os programas e ações públicas voltados para a agricultura familiar no Brasil. Valendo-se das abordagens cognitiva e de dependência de caminho das políticas públicas, focaliza-se a emergência desses referenciais no Brasil e sua apropriação no período do Governo Lula. Destaque é dado para a atuação dos atores sociais e redes de política pública envolvidas com essas questões.

This paper presents an alternative view of agricultural commercialization in the capitalist development process, in contrast with the functionalist approach derived from neoclassical economic theory. In the Brazilian economy, agricultural capital circulation depends on the social organization of production and the development of capitalist concentration, both determined by the modernization process. The author emphasizes the tendency toward subordination of circulation activities, the growing importance of different types of capital and its financial appreciation in agricultural production and circulation

Attempting to analyze the ways that public actions geared toward the rural environment have made reference to the notion of agricultural multifunctionality and the territorial perspective on development, in this article we analyze the variety of public policies that are part of the Multiple Year Plan 2004-2007. Within a context that is marked simultaneously by the globalization of the economy and strengthening of democratic processes, we give emphasis to public managers' concern for inducing a process of social and territorial re-balancing through the implantation of two different logics: sectoral policies that favor family farming and policies seeking to dynamize land-based economic activities. We note that these policies make implicit reference to the multi-functional character of family farming and explicit reference to the territorial perspective. In conclusion, we point to the essentially fragmented and differentiated nature of policies of rural development and the need to integrate them through clearer references to both notions.

Muito embora a dieta calorica de um individuo adulto tenha caido de 3.600 para 2.500 calorias/dia, em razao das mudancas nas condicoes de vida e de trabalho, a fome e a desnutricao continuam amargando a existencia de milhoes de brasileiros. Estima-se, com efeito, que em 1990, 70 milhoes de pessoas no Brasil estavam aquem do patamar nutricional minimo. Enquanto as manchetes dos jornais vem reiteradamente apontando o encarecimento relativo do preco dos alimentos, surgem expectativas bastante favoraveis quanto a proxima safra agricola. Mas a chamada salvacao da lavoura parece que nunca atravessa os campos para chegar a mesa do consumidor