Pluri-active family farmers

In recent decades, family farming has come to account for a large part of the food consumed by Brazilian families, leading this social category to receive special attention from academia, with the creation of new postgraduate courses and events, and from the State, with new support and incentive policies. In the Jaguari Valley, it has been no different. Over time, family farmers have had to adapt to changes, especially those related to new market and rural demands, as well as adopting tools and strategies that would ensure their permanence in the countryside and better economic and social advancement. The best example in the region is Nova Esperança do Sul, a municipality of Italian colonisation, which, like the others, has a strong agricultural vocation, but is closely identified with the industrial sector, with several small and medium-sized companies operating in the leather and footwear sector and a tannery that exports its entire production. This work addresses the typology of local family farming that has adopted multi-activity as a way of adapting to this new rurality.