PSIX-24 - Social trust in a small dairy farmer organization in Southeast Brazil

Abstract: The objective of this study was to analyze the social trust in a group of dairy farmers in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. The related Association of Dairy Producers (ADP) is like most small rural organizations present in Brazil that emerged to meet the public policies. Current assessment had three stages: a) identifying producers; b) applying the surveys; and data analyses. The producer association was unable to provide some basic information about tis members (such as phone number), which signalizes lack of trust. To identify the ADP members, it was necessary to visit the milking parlor expansion tanks to find such contact. Another situation reinforced the first impression regarding the lack of social trust: a ADP member did not authorize the researcher´s access to conduct the surveys for the members that used the expansion tank installed on his land. The surveys were then applied at four out of five locations where expansion tanks were installed. Among the ADP members surveyed, 68.75% answered the survey. Approximately 82% of respondents indicated caution when dealing people in general (inside or outside the ADP). Although there was an indication on lack of social trust, 54.4% of producers trusted entirely in the ADP; 22.7% partially trusted; 13.6% were indifferent; 4.5% had low trust, and 4.5% did not trust. When the voluntary participation in decision in the association activities was questioned, 68.2% of the surveyed members answered “actively participate”, 31.8% “participate without actions,” and none of the surveyed members admitted no participation. Approximately 82% of the surveyed members had a positive perception about the association, while 18% believed it was not properly managed and inferred no longer assist with it in the future. A greater participation in the association activities may have not being observed due to the fact that current association was transitioning into a cooperative business model at the time of current data collection. For 18.25% of the members, the two mainly causes the distrust in the recently created agricultural cooperative was related to: a) the requirement to obligatory become a member; b) the delay in the construction completion of the dairy processing plant. The results suggest that producers show signs of general social distrust, indicated by concerns regarding the advantages, disadvantages, or even the risks associated with becoming members of the agricultural cooperative. Nonetheless, the vast majority of producer members trusted in the association. Further assessment is warranted to investigate if the source of general social mistrust observed erupted from internal (local community) or external (city, state, and federal public policies) venues of the society.