Construção de uma experiência compartilhada de controle biológico conservativo em cultivo biodinâmico de sementes de hortaliças em assentamento da reforma agrária

Abstract

One of the main challenges faced by professionals related to themes regarding contemporary sustainable development in Brazil can be represented by the conflicts and tensions between family farming and agribusiness. In this regard, a number of studies have been addressing the specificities and contributions of the so called ecological agriculture for strengthening family agriculture. In this study, the central proposal is to build a shared experience concerning the settlement of a land reform with emphasis on conservative biological control of agricultural pests in a biodynamic system of vegetable seed production. The stages performed in the research and extension activities in a production unit at the Santo Dias settlement related to MST/Guapé, Minas Gerais, Brazil, relied on specific methods of either experimental research, social science research, or both used simultaneously. The main concern was to reflect on the families involved with the information generated during the development of the work, both regarding the experiment and their social realities and life stories. This study showed that experimental science relies on shared science to promote the development and social transformation in the field. Regarding the search for sustainability, this work demonstrates that the conservative biological control can be a very useful technique to organic and agro-ecological farmers. However, in order for this technique to actually contribute to greater sustainability, we must also understand the social world in which it operates, given that, before the technical dimension lies the social dimension, which can create or not a favorable context for the development of Agroecology.