Decission-making Process of Soil Use in Horticultural Family Farms

Abstract

The research was developed to identify farmer’s procedures used to make decisions on soil management for horticulture. We performed interviews on a sample of 20 farmers related to three farmer’s organizations from Canelones, Uruguay. After that, using soil rotation and main crop areas maintenance between years, we defined four ways of vegetable soil use: planned, market shaped, stable and unstable. Farmers were grouped into these types and the types were characterized. For each group, a soil decision making model was developed. As a result, we concluded that a farmer majority maintained the main crops, which were selected by experience and labor availability, while several producers added as a determining factor the generation of continued revenue streams related to crop diversification and other productions. On the other hand, the total crop area was related to labor and soil availability, and in many cases market saturation emerged as decisive. The farmers who used soil rotation defined crop areas based on those rotations; while others just looked for not repeating the same crops in the same plot. In conclusion, the majority of farmers followed the stable patron (without soil rotation, but maintaining main crop areas) showing a trend of stability in soil use.