Produzir para viver ou viver para produzir: conflitos vividos pelos produtores familiares e as estratégias de resistência no território do queijo Canastra

Abstract

The central theme of this research is the process of cheese production and commercialization in the Canastra Microregion, in the State of Minas Gerais. We broach the problems faced by the producers of Minas Artisanal Cheese, made from raw milk and seek to understand the processes and conflicts experienced and felt by the Canastra Cheese producers. In order to carry out the research, we start from theoretical references related to the subject, but also from the experience with cheese producers, which made it possible to understand the process of cheese production in all its phases, including its commercialization. The main point is about the craftsmanship of the cheese-making process and the risks of de-characterizing the way of doing it by legislation governing the production and commercialization of cheese. The cheese producers resist the adoption of the practices contained in the norms, which pursue to adapt the production of artisanal cheeses to industrial principles, whose parameters are based on pasteurization of milk, inoxization of utensils and production equipment, artificialization and product standardization. Staying in informality is a strategy of resistance by the producers, a way of maintaining the tradition, the knowledge and the way of doing, the habits and customs and the way of life in the Canastra Microregion. The production of Canastra Cheese is one of the elements that configure the local social organization, contributes to the income generation and employment. It has historically been a socioeconomic activity that has contributed to local and regional development, with the establishment and the maintenance of symbolic issues and responsible for cultural (re) production and as a possibility of permanence of producers in rural areas.