Transformações na pecuária leiteira brasileira: os impactos no Sudoeste Paranaense

Abstract

Historically marked by significant transformations, the Brazilian dairy sector, driven by market demand for large-scale production and higher quality standards, has been undergoing an intense process of technification, professionalization, and modernization of primary production. This includes the implementation of new methods aimed at increasing productivity and improving efficiency. This process reflects the socioeconomic and spatial changes that have taken place, as well as the level of maturity reached by the dairy production chain. This trajectory has been affecting the permanence of small-scale producers in the activity due to their limited capacity to adapt to new productive dynamics. In this context, the present research examines the recent transformations occurring in the dairy production chain in Brazil, with emphasis on the processes of production centralization and capital accumulation observed in national primary production between 2014 and 2025. The objective is to identify the main impacts and challenges faced by small and medium-sized producers regarding the viability of their continued participation in dairy farming in an economically sustainable and competitive manner, especially in Southwestern Paraná. The analysis of the historical development of the national dairy production chain and its productive structure provided the basis for understanding the current scenario, as well as the main ongoing transformations in dairy farming within capitalist dynamics and the issues concerning small-scale farming.