WG9 – Decent work in family farming and the agri-food sector
IAWA
ISWA2026
Working groups
WG9 – Decent work in family farming and the agri-food sector

WG9 – Decent work in family farming and the agri-food sector

This working group explores efforts to promote decent work in family farming and the wider agri-food sector considering global changes. It conceives family farms as closely connected farm enterprises and households that co-evolve. In family farms economic, environmental, social and cultural dimensions interconnect. Global changes, such as climate change, demographic change, migration, pandemics and technological transformations that affect the agri-food sector and family farms need to be considered, when exploring decent work and its promotion, including differences in scale and other characteristics between countries. Hence, comparative analysis of policies that target rural labour forces in the Global North and South warrant attention.

Convenors: Caroline Jacques (University of the Extreme South of Santa Catarina, Brazil), Dimas de Oliveira Estevam  (University of the Extreme South of Santa Catarina, Brazil)

A Triangulated Perspective on Labor Conditions in Certified vs Non-Certified Coffee Farms in Rwanda: Farmer Reports, Worker Narratives, and Gender Dimensions  
Francoise Umarishavu, Meike Wollni
 

Universities as Drivers of Decent Work in Family Farming: An Institutional Evaluation Perspective   
Marco Felipe Zanchetta Moreno Guidio Biondo, Dimas de Oliveira Estevam, Thiago Rocha Fabris, Thiago Henrique Almino Francisco, Caroline da Graça Jacques    
 

Small Processors, Big Risks: Why Decentralization Doesn’t Guarantee Decent Work in the Agrifood System    
Michaela Hoffelmeyer  
 

Can free labor be decent work? Representations of free labor and access to decent work among new farmers    
Marie Barisaux, Pierre Gasselin, Lucette Laurens
 

Family Farming and Decent Work in Brazil: Analyzing PRONAF Credit Access and Structural Bottlenecks  
Marcelo Vargas de Souza, Caroline da Graça Jacques, Dimas de Oliveira Estevam, Chantele Cerqueira de Lima Barzan 
 

Decent Work and Cooperativism in Brazil: Pathways to Social Protection for Family Farmers   
Caroline Jacques, Dimas Estevam, Daniele Souza, Bianca Batti, Marcelo Souza, Chantele Barzan   
 

Productivity memory, macroeconomic shocks, and institutional constraints in Brazilian agricultural exports 
Thiago Rocha Fabris, Marco Felipe Zanchetta Moreno Guidio Biondo, Dimas De Oliveira Estevam, Caroline da Graça Jacques
 

Rural Credit and Decent Work in Brazil: Structural Inequalities Between Agribusiness and Family Farming  
Gilberto Zeling, Dimas Estevam   
 

Publication date: 11 September 2026 | By: I Avelange