Farmers of different economic groups
worksidebysideintheproductionofapplesinBrazil,while
smallerdiversifiedfruitfarmingunitsareonarisingtrend
T
here is an expressive num-
ber of farmers devoted to
pomiculture in South Bra-
zil. In all, there are upwards
of 4,500, most of them
small-scale growers, while the commercial
units still account for 40% of the produc-
tion. In the meantime, opportunities unfold
for small-scale players, particularly family
farms, where the apple is the flagship in di-
versified fruticulture.
The small farmstands out over the other
farmsinthesierraregioninSãoJoaquim(SC),
where the highlight is the Fuji apple, and the
same holds true for investments by the sup-
ply chain. The town competes for the leader-
ship of the sector with Vacaria, a town locat-
ed in a region known as Campos de Cima da
Serra(RS),wherecommercialfarmspredom-
inate, but there is still a significant number of
small farms there, and they are the majority
in the neighboring apple growing region of
Caxias do Sul. In the thirdbiggest production
area, in Fraiburgo and surroundings, in mid-
westernSantaCatarina, considered tobe the
origin of Brazil’s commercial apple farming
business, small farms are rare.
However, there are successful small ap-
ple production units in this region. It is the
case of Saint Joseph Ranch, in Liberata,
on the surroundings of Fraiburgo, run by
the Dias de Moraes family, where patriarch
Aparício, 84, and his children Dirceu, Alceu
and Alcides are in the lead. The ranch was
chosen as the venue for the opening cere-
mony of the2017Galaappleharvest inSan-
taCatarina, onJanuary 30. The family group
have been in the fruit farming business
for over 30 years. They started with peach-
es and began to devote much time to this
fruit as soon as its potential was figured out
by Alceu, agricultural technician, who had
worked for local companies of the segment.
The technician and producer, nonethe-
less, maintains that if good results are to be
achieved, there is need for quality and pro-
Saint Joseph Ranch, a family
farmin Fraiburgo, exhibits good results
ductivity, two attributes pres-
ent on the ranch, more
than ever in 2017, the
result of time de-
votedtothefam-
ily farm. “You
can never re-
peat a year
and
the
f a rme r s
s h o u l d
be pre-
p a r e d
for differ-
ent
sit-
uations”,
he deducts
from his ex-
perience. As
one of the most
important
as-
pects, he points to
good orchard mainte-
nance, with proper fertiliza-
tion (plants need to be well fed, es-
peciallywith calcium), correctly prunedand
harvested at the recommended stage, the
sooner the better, he concludes.
Management is done with care, which
becomes evident in the roses planted along
therowsofapples,thoughthemainpurpose
of their thorns consists in preventing the
rabbits from causing damage to the stems
of the apple trees. There are 26 hectares de-
voted to the fruit, representing one fourth
Ontheheelsof
success
Satisfaction and future
The Dias de Moraes family, which counts on 12 permanent
workersand50seasonalemployees,harvestedabout900tonsofhigh
quality apples in 2017 (with areas that yielded more than 60 t/ha), and in
Apriltheentirecrophadalreadybeennegotiated.Thecommercializationofthe
fruit (known by its brand name Eragil, stemming from the early peach business)
is conducted through a seller, who owns a packing house, packs the fruit and sends
themtoallcornersoftheCountryandevenabroad,whileabigportionoftheapplesare
solddirectly.Mostfamilyfarmershaveshownmuchsatisfactionwiththeeconomicand
physicalresultsderivedfromtheactivity,andhaveconfidenceinthefuture.
Small-scalefarms,properlyrunanddiversified,wheretheappleistheflagship,are
capable of producing efficiently and sustainably, says the spokesperson of the fam-
ily, Alceu, also mentioning the share of other fruit and different agricultural and
livestockproducts.Likewise,agronomistRenatoLuísVieira,researchmanager
atEpagriinCaçador(SC),nearFraiburgo,revealstheeffortsunderwayto-
wards bringing back to the area small-scale fruit growing farms. He
spots reorganization throughcooperatives, inserting30 local
producers also devoted to grapes, but are expand-
ingtheirareasdevotedtoapples.
of the to-
tal area (18
acres in full produc-
tion), where the highlights are such apples
asBrookfield (“which sells for itself”, says Al-
ceu), Galaxie and Royal Gala, besides other
pollinators, aswell as initial plantings of Fuji
Suprema. Theorchard is renewedonayear-
ly basis, always under the supervision of a
private agronomist and professionals from
the public company Epagri, like extension
worker Marcus Henrique Pritsch.
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