Systemic approach in rural administration: Study of the family production unit

Abstract

This paper focuses on understanding the rationality of production management and available resources in agricultural production unit (UPA), identifying its main technical and socioeconomic characteristics in order to make a diagnosis to subsidize the rural manager in decision making.

This study was part of the extension project approved in the Institutional Incentive Extension Program of the Farroupilha Federal Institute (Brazil), prioritizing as object of study a family UPA in the municipality of Santo Antônio das Missões/RS/Brazil, being conducted between October-November 2014.

As methodological procedure a survey was done with qualitative and quantitative data, such as natural resources, utilized agricultural area, herd, plant, machinery and equipment, availability of labor force and yields of the various cultivation subsystems, breeding and processing. This data was organized in a spreadsheet, which identifies the adopted production system and its main technical and socioeconomic characteristics. As proposed, technical and managerial intervention in the production system, proposed strategically to enhance milk production opposed to the soybean production, considering its high contribution in relation to the value added per unit area.