Short supply circuits: An approach from diversified family farming in Argentina

Abstract

The article aims to move a step forward in the characterization of short marketing circuits in Argentina and their scope for strengthening diversified family farming and its reconnection with territories. The methodology employed is basically qualitative and based on two case studies.

While the circuits analysed show differences in their characteristics, internal organization, in the access to external advice and in the processes that led to their formation, they converge in sustaining production practices that involve less use of chemical inputs. They also promote the development of new skills and a greater appropriation of value by producers. Other aspects that can be highlighted are their contribution to farmers’ persistence in their social systems of belonging, and to the development of farming styles that diverge from a mere adaptation to the agricultural model prevailing today in the Pampean region.