Introduction

Agriculture has played a central role in Brazil’s economic and social formation since the beginning of the colonisation process in the sixteenth century. It is deeply associated with the country’s historical entry into the world economy based on the export of tropical products (Furtado 1986; Prado Junior 2003).

The historical trajectory of Brazilian agriculture reveals a complex process of transformation involving the transition from a colonial system based on export monocultures and slave labour to a contemporary system characterised by the simultaneous presence of highly mechanised large agro-industrial complexes and millions of family farming units.

In recent decades, Brazil has consolidated itself as one of the world’s leading agricultural powers, ranking among the largest global producers and exporters of agricultural commodities, including soybean, corn, beef, sugar, and coffee. This process has been driven by technological modernisation in agriculture, the expansion of mechanisation, the increased use of industrial inputs, and the intensification of scientific research aimed at adapting production systems to tropical conditions. Public research institutions and state policies related to credit, infrastructure, and technical support have played a decisive role in this process, contributing to the development of agricultural technologies capable of significantly increasing productivity levels.

Despite these advances, Brazilian agrarian structure continues to be marked by deep historical inequalities. Land concentration, largely inherited from the colonial period, remains a significant feature of Brazil’s rural landscape. At the same time, family farming retains strategic importance for the production of food destined for the domestic market, for job creation in rural areas, and for the economy of several regions of the country. The coexistence of different forms of productive organisation (large agricultural enterprises and small family-based production units) constitutes one of the most striking characteristics of contemporary Brazilian agriculture.

The analysis of Brazilian agriculture offers important insights for understanding processes of agrarian change in tropical economies. Brazil’s case is of particular interest when compared to other large agrarian economies of the Global South, such as India, which also face challenges related to agricultural modernisation, food security, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion in rural areas.

This article aims to analyse the historical trajectory of Brazilian agriculture, highlighting the main factors that contributed to the development of its productive forces and to the transformation of its agrarian structure over time. The study also examines contemporary challenges related to sustainability, production organisation, and food security.

In addition, this work engages with some recent debates on agrarian change in the Global South, including reflections presented during the International Conference on Agrarian Change (ICAC), held in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), India, in November 2025. Discussions at this event highlighted the importance of comparative analysis of trajectories of agrarian transformation in tropical economies.

Historical Formation of Brazilian Agriculture

The formation of Brazilian agriculture is closely linked to Portuguese colonisation, which began in the sixteenth century. Unlike other regions of the Americas, where large pre-Columbian agricultural civilizations were found, the territory that would later constitute Brazil was inhabited mainly by indigenous people who practiced agricultural systems based on polyculture and the use of management techniques adapted to the tropical environment.

These populations developed relatively sophisticated production systems based on crop rotation, the use of fire for soil preparation, and the cultivation of plant species highly adapted to the ecological conditions of the region. Cassava, for example, constituted the main food source of several indigenous societies. The cultivation of multiple varieties of cassava allowed its adaptation to a range of soil types and climatic conditions.

With the arrival of the Portuguese colonisers, these indigenous agricultural systems began to coexist with forms of production introduced by Europeans. In the early years of colonisation, agricultural production aimed at supplying the small colonial communities established along the coast.

In the second half of the sixteenth century, with the introduction and expansion of sugarcane cultivation, colonial agriculture underwent a profound transformation. Sugarcane cultivation had already been experimented with by the Portuguese in other tropical regions, especially in the Atlantic islands of Madeira and São Tomé, from where cultivation and processing techniques were later transferred to Brazil.

Sugar production quickly became the colony’s main economic activity, especially in the Northeast region, where climate and soil conditions were particularly favourable for sugarcane cultivation. As highlighted by Celso Furtado, the “sugar complex” constituted the first major organised economic system in Portuguese America, bringing together agricultural production, industrial processing, and international trade (Furtado 1986).

Sugarcane production took place on large rural estates, known as the engenho, which brought together the agricultural and industrial activities related to sugar production in a single productive unit. The concentration of landholdings and the high demand for labour led to the intensification of the African slave trade, consolidating an economic system deeply marked by the exploitation of enslaved labour.

According to Schwartz (1992), the sugar economy shaped not only the colony’s productive structure but also its social and political relations, contributing to the formation of a powerful agrarian elite highly integrated into Atlantic trade. This productive model also had a significant impact on the organisation of territory, promoting the occupation of coastal regions and the formation of important urban centres linked to sugar exports.

Despite its economic importance, the colonial sugar economy faced several challenges throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including competition from other producing regions, fluctuations in international prices, and the technological limitations of agricultural production at the time. Nevertheless, sugarcane cultivation remained for a long period one of the pillars of the Brazilian colonial economy.

Colonial Agrarian Structure and the Formation of the Latifundium

The formation of Brazil’s agrarian structure is directly associated with Portuguese colonisation and legal institutions that enabled territorial occupation for the colonisers. Among these institutions, the system of hereditary captaincies and the regime of sesmaria land grants played a fundamental role in shaping the country’s landholding structure.

The hereditary captaincy system was established by the Portuguese Crown in 1534 as a strategy to promote the occupation and defence of the colonial territory. Under this system, vast portions of land were granted to private individuals (the donatários), who received broad administrative and economic powers over their captaincies. Although not all captaincies prospered, the system contributed to the formation of large territorial units and to the concentration of land ownership (Prado Junior 2003).

The sesmaria regime established a mechanism for land concessions intended to stimulate agricultural production. Sesmarias were land grants made by the Crown or by local authorities to individuals who committed to cultivating the land. In practice, however, this system favoured the formation of large estates, since beneficiaries often accumulated extensive areas and relied on enslaved labour to ensure the economic exploitation of these lands.

According to Prado Junior (2003), the economic logic of Portuguese colonisation in the Americas was oriented towards the production of tropical goods destined for the European market. This production pattern favoured the emergence of large monoculture estates geared towards export, consolidating the latifundium as a structuring element of the Brazilian agrarian economy.

Land concentration was also closely associated with the systematic use of African enslaved labour. Slavery became a central element of the colonial productive system, enabling the intensive exploitation of commercial crops, especially sugarcane. The sugar economy represented a form of productive organisation that was integrated into international trade but also marked by strong social inequality and external dependence (Furtado 1986).

This agrarian structure, based on monoculture latifundia and enslaved labour, had long-lasting effects on Brazilian society. Even after the abolition of slavery in 1888, land concentration remained a striking feature of the Brazilian rural landscape.

The colonial production system prioritised the production of export crops to the detriment of agricultural diversification and domestic supply. As a result, the colonial economy frequently faced food supply crises, a situation that led to the development of parallel agricultural systems oriented towards food production for the domestic market.

Territorial Expansion, Cattle Ranching, and the Interiorisation of the Economy

While sugar production was concentrated mainly in the coastal regions of the Northeast, other economic activities played a fundamental role in the territorial expansion of the colony. Among these activities, cattle ranching stood out as an important element in the interiorisation of economic occupation of Brazilian territory.

Cattle raising initially emerged as a complementary activity to the sugar economy, providing meat, leather, and draft animals for the sugar mills (engenhos). However, because of the need to preserve the most fertile coastal lands for sugarcane cultivation, cattle ranching was gradually pushed to the interior of the territory.

Cattle raising led to the occupation of vast areas of the northeastern sertão (an arid region or scrub) and later of the country’s interior regions. Extensive cattle ranching was characterised by relatively little human labour use and by adaptability to environmental conditions in semi-arid regions and Cerrado region.¹ Cattle raising thus played a significant role in the expansion of the colonial economic frontier.

Cattle ranching also contributed to the formation of internal commercial networks, as products such as dried meat and leather began to be traded across different regions of the colony. These economic activities helped integrate the colonial territory and promoted the formation of new population centres in the interior parts of Brazil.

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the expansion of cattle ranching was also associated with the occupation of regions that would later become important centres of Brazilian agricultural production, such as parts of Central-West and South Brazil. In these regions, cattle raising established the conditions for future agricultural and livestock development.

In the twentieth century, Brazilian cattle ranching underwent significant technological modernisation, including the introduction of genetic improvements in livestock and of new management techniques. One of the central elements of this transformation was the introduction of zebu cattle breeds from India, such as Nellore cattle, which demonstrated excellent adaptation to Brazilian tropical conditions. This adaptation contributed to the expansion of cattle ranching into regions previously considered unsuitable for livestock production.

Today, Brazil ranks among the world’s largest producers and exporters of beef, the result of a long historical process of territorial expansion, technological innovation, and integration into international markets.

The Coffee Cycle and the Transformation of the Agrarian Economy

During the nineteenth century, Brazilian agriculture underwent another transformation with the rise of coffee cultivation. Initially introduced in Brazil in the eighteenth century, coffee became, through the nineteenth century, the country’s main export product and played a decisive role in the reorganisation of the national economy.

The expansion of coffee production occurred mainly in the Paraíba Valley region and later in western São Paulo, areas where the environmental conditions for the cultivation of the crop were favourable. The development of coffee farming was associated with the construction of transportation infrastructure, especially the railways, which facilitated the flow of goods to export ports.

According to Fausto (2014), the coffee economy was responsible for profound transformations in Brazilian society, including the formation of a new economic elite and the intensification of investments in infrastructure and productive modernisation.

Another important aspect of coffee expansion was the transformation of labour relations in rural areas. With the progressive crisis of the slave system and the subsequent abolition of slavery, coffee production increasingly came to depend on free workers, including European immigrants, who arrived in Brazil in large numbers, beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century.

This process marked an important transition in rural labour relations, paving the way for the formation of an agrarian economy based on wage labour. The expansion of coffee cultivation contributed to the economic growth of regions such as the state of São Paulo, which would later become one of the country’s main industrial centres.

Agricultural Modernisation and the Green Revolution in Brazil

Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, Brazilian agriculture underwent a profound process of technological and organisational transformation. This process was associated with what was called the Green Revolution, a set of scientific and technical innovations aimed at increasing agricultural productivity through the intensive use of fertilizers, pesticides, improved seeds, and mechanisation.

Although the Green Revolution initially spread in countries of Asia and North America, its technologies were incorporated into Brazilian agriculture from the 1960s and 1970s onwards. During this period, the Brazilian state played a decisive role in promoting agricultural modernisation by creating research institutions, expanding rural credit, and investing in transportation and storage infrastructure.

Among the most important public policies of this period were the creation of the National Rural Credit System, the expansion of the agricultural research network, and investments in regional development programmes. These initiatives contributed to the diffusion of modern agricultural technologies and expansion of production in various regions of the country.

Brazilian agricultural modernisation was characterised by a process of productive intensification based on the incorporation of technology and capital into rural production. This process allowed significant increases in productivity, especially in crops such as soybeans, corn, wheat, and rice (da Silva 1982).

However, agricultural modernisation was not uniform across regions. Regions with greater access to credit, infrastructure, and technical assistance were the first to adopt the new technologies, while poorer or more isolated areas remained dependent on traditional production methods for a longer period. This regional inequality contributed to deepening socioeconomic disparities in Brazil’s rural areas.

Another relevant aspect of agricultural modernisation was the growing integration between agriculture and industry. The development of industrial sectors linked to the production of fertilizer, agricultural machinery, and chemical inputs transformed agriculture into part of a broader agro-industrial complex, in which different stages of production and commercialisation became increasingly articulated.

Science, Technology, and the Role of Agricultural Research

One of the most important elements in the transformation of Brazilian agriculture was the strengthening of scientific research aimed at adapting agricultural technologies to tropical conditions. The creation of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) in 1973 was a milestone in this process.

Among the most important contributions of the scientific research in Brazil was the development of techniques that enabled agricultural expansion in the Cerrado biome, a region that had been long considered unsuitable for agriculture due to soil acidity and low natural fertility. Brazilian scientists demonstrated that the application of soil amendments and fertilizers could make these areas highly productive.

According to Eliseu Alves, one of the researchers associated with the development of tropical agriculture in Brazil, scientific progress made it possible to transform the Cerrado into one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions (Alves 2010). This had a profound impact on the country’s agricultural geography, promoting the expansion of the agricultural frontier towards the Central-West region. The expansion of agriculture in the Cerrado was also associated with the production of soybean, a crop that would become one of Brazil’s primary agricultural exports. The adaptation of soybean varieties to tropical conditions represented an important scientific advancement and contributed to establishing the country as one of the world’s largest producers of this crop.

The Formation of Brazilian Agribusiness

The consolidation of Brazilian agribusiness occurred in the last decades of the twentieth century, when agriculture became integrated into complex production chains involving agricultural production, industrial processing, logistics, and international trade.

In the Brazilian context, the term agrobusiness refers to the agro-industrial complex responsible for a significant share of the country’s economic production. According to Navarro (2016), Brazilian agribusiness is characterised by relatively high levels of technological development, strong integration with international markets, and the presence of large, highly mechanised agricultural enterprises.

Among the most important products of Brazilian agribusiness are soybeans, corn, sugar, coffee, beef, and poultry meat. These products play a fundamental role in the country’s export portfolio and contribute significantly to the positive balance of Brazil’s trade balance.

In addition, Brazilian agriculture has undergone a significant process of professionalisation and managerial modernisation. Large agricultural properties have adopted advanced management systems, precision agriculture, satellite monitoring, and other digital technologies that allow for increased productive efficiency and reduced costs.

However, the growth of agribusiness has also been accompanied by intense debates regarding its social and environmental impact. Issues such as deforestation, the use of agrochemicals, land concentration, and agrarian conflicts have become central themes in discussions about the future of Brazilian agriculture.

Family Farming and Food Security

Despite the growth of corporate agribusiness, family farming continues to play an important role in food production in Brazil. This sector is characterised by the predominance of family labour, a smaller scale of production than in agribusiness corporations, and diversification of agricultural crops. Family farming has significant economic and social importance, contributing to employment generation in rural areas, the maintenance of agricultural communities, and the food supply for the domestic market (Schneider 2013).

In Brazil, the institutional recognition of family farming occurred mainly from the 1990s onwards, when specific public policies aimed at strengthening this sector were created. Among these policies, the National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (PRONAF) stands out, as it expanded access to rural credit for small producers.

Other important initiatives include public food procurement programmes, such as the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) and the National School Feeding Program (PNAE), which created institutional markets for family farming production.

These policies contributed to strengthening agricultural production on small farms and to promoting rural development in several regions of the country. In addition, family farming plays a relevant role in biodiversity conservation and in maintaining diversified agricultural systems.

In the contemporary context, the challenge lies in promoting the coexistence of different productive models in Brazilian rural areas. While corporate agribusiness stands out for its high productivity and strong integration into international markets, family farming contributes significantly to food security, employment generation, and regional development.

Sustainability, Agroecology, and Agrarian Conflicts

In recent decades, environmental sustainability has become one of the central themes in the agrarian debate in Brazil. The expansion of modern agriculture, driven by mechanisation, the intensive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, genetic improvement, and high-yield technologies, has generated concrete environmental challenges, including deforestation, soil degradation, pressure on water resources, and loss of biodiversity. These problems are real and cannot be overlooked. However, a significant part of the political and intellectual interpretation of these challenges has increasingly been shaped by a deeply romanticised view of rural life and by an often ideological critique of modern agricultural science.

In this context, agroecology has consolidated itself not merely as an alternative technical proposal, but also as a political and intellectual movement challenging contemporary scientific agriculture. Authors such as Altieri (2012) advocate for agricultural systems based on productive diversification, reduced use of industrial inputs, and the valorisation of traditional forms of agricultural management. Although certain agroecological practices may produce positive results in localised experiences and among specific sectors of family farming, much of the contemporary discourse on agroecology tends to idealise pre-industrial forms of production, treating small-scale farming, low mechanisation, and the limited use of modern inputs as virtues in themselves.

This approach frequently ignores a central issue, the fact that urbanised and populous societies depend on highly productive, technologically sophisticated agricultural systems capable of operating at a large scale. In continental countries such as Brazil, marked by high demand for food, energy, and agricultural exports, the rejection of technological modernisation represents neither an economically viable nor an environmentally rational alternative. The notion that sustainability depends upon a return to traditional forms of agriculture disregards the fact that low agricultural productivity has historically been associated not only with rural poverty, but also with the continuous expansion of agricultural frontiers.

It was scientific modernisation that enabled Brazil to overcome the historical limitations imposed by tropical agriculture. The transformation of the Brazilian biome known as the Cerrado into one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions resulted from decades of agronomic research, correction of acidic soils, development of crop varieties adapted to tropical conditions, and advances in biotechnology and mechanisation (Buainain et al. 2014). Public institutions such as Embrapa played a decisive role in this process, demonstrating that science, productivity, and ecological adaptation can operate in a complementary manner (Embrapa 2018).

The sectarian critique directed at synthetic fertilizers, mechanisation, improved seeds, and biotechnologies frequently overlooks that it was scientific progress that made it possible to expand agricultural production without a proportionate expansion of the agricultural frontier. In this sense, technological intensification may represent a more environmentally rational alternative than extensive low productivity systems often idealised by romantic perspectives on rural life. The higher the productivity per hectare, the lower the pressure for the continuous incorporation of new natural areas into agricultural production.

From a broader historical perspective, the development of Brazilian agriculture may be understood as part of the process of expanding productive forces in the countryside. The incorporation of science, mechanisation, plant genetics, chemical fertilisation, and advanced management systems significantly increased the productivity of agricultural labour and the capacity for large-scale food production. Rather than representing a mere “industrialisation of nature,” this process constituted a material condition for sustaining complex urban societies, reducing production costs, and expanding the availability of food for growing sectors of the population. Critiques of agricultural modernisation frequently ignore the fact that historically low levels of productivity were associated with food scarcity, chronic rural poverty, and extensive land use.

This perception is consistent with the reflections of Borlaug (1970), the leading figure associated with the Green Revolution. According to the author, increasing agricultural productivity through science and technological innovation constitutes not only an instrument for combating hunger, but also a necessary condition for reducing pressure on natural ecosystems. From this perspective, the principal contemporary environmental risk lies not in the excess use of agricultural technology, but in the insufficiency of innovation capable of producing more food while proportionally using less land, water, and natural resources.

Furthermore, environmental debates frequently overlook that many of the most important contemporary agricultural conservation practices emerged precisely within modern scientific agriculture itself. Techniques such as no-till farming, integrated crop-livestock-forest systems, biological pest control, biological nitrogen fixation, and precision agriculture demonstrate that sustainable practises in the twenty-first century depend less on rejecting technological modernity and more on its continuous expansion and refinement (Embrapa 2020). The central problem is not the existence of modern agricultural science, but rather the manner in which its technological capacities are regulated, distributed, and socially utilised.

This does not mean denying the existence of agrarian conflicts or historical inequalities in land distribution. Brazil is still marked by a highly concentrated landownership structure and recurrent social tensions in rural areas. Rural social movements such as the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) have played an important role in bringing political visibility to these issues. Nevertheless, overcoming rural poverty and constructing a socially inclusive agricultural model will hardly be achieved through the rejection of science or through a return to low-efficiency agricultural systems.

From a historical standpoint, the contemporary challenge does not consist in halting the development of productive forces in agriculture but rather in directing them socially and environmentally in a rational manner. The incorporation of science, mechanisation, plant genetics, chemical fertilisation, and advanced management systems significantly increased the productivity of agricultural labour and the capacity for large-scale food production. In complex and urbanised societies, the expansion of productive forces in the countryside constitutes a material condition for food security, social stability, and relative environmental preservation. Sustainability in the twenty-first century will depend less on rejecting technological modernity and more on the capacity to use scientific advancement to increase production while exerting lower territorial pressure with greater ecological efficiency.

International Comparisons: Brazil and India

The analysis of Brazilian agriculture can be enriched by comparison with other agricultural experiences in tropical countries. Among these countries, India presents several characteristics that allow for interesting parallels with Brazil.

Like Brazil, India has a vast territorial extension, climatic diversity, and a significant rural population. Both countries have faced challenges related to agricultural modernisation, increasing productivity, and ensuring food security for their populations.

During the 1960s and 1970s, India implemented agricultural policies known as the Green Revolution, which sought to increase food production through the adoption of high-yield seeds and intensive irrigation and the use of chemical fertilizers. These policies enabled significant increases in grain production, especially that of wheat and rice.

However, studies on agrarian transformation in India indicate that agricultural modernisation does not automatically eliminate the structural inequalities present in rural areas. The development of capitalism in Indian agriculture has occurred unevenly, combining the introduction of modern technologies and productivity gains with the persistence of social relations of production characterised by a high concentration of land ownership and a widespread dependence on rural wage labour. In this context, the dynamics of agriculture cannot be analysed solely through technical or productivity indicators; it is also necessary to consider the class relations that structure access to land, credit, and the means of production. This perspective is consistent with the classical tradition of political economy and with Marxist studies of the agrarian question, which emphasise the interaction between the development of productive forces and the transformation of social relations of production in the countryside (Ramachandran 1990).

In Brazil, on the other hand, the presence of large rural properties facilitated the adoption of mechanised technologies and the development of highly productive agricultural systems. This characteristic contributed to consolidating the country as an important exporter of agricultural commodities.

Despite these differences, both countries face similar challenges related to environmental sustainability, natural resource management, and the need to promote inclusive rural development. The Brazilian experience with tropical agricultural research and rural credit policies may offer important lessons for other tropical countries seeking to modernise their agricultural systems.

Recent Contributions to International Debate on Agrarian Change

The reflections presented in this article engage directly with contemporary debates on the transformation of agrarian structures in different regions of the world. In particular, this section refers to the discussions held during the International Conference on Agrarian Change (ICAC 2025, organised by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies in November 2025. Many of the themes covered at the Conference – the relationships between productive forces and relations of production in rural areas, the role of science and technology in agricultural modernisation, living conditions of rural populations, and the impact of climate change on agricultural production systems – reflect central concerns in the contemporary literature on agrarian change and relate directly to the historical trajectory of Brazilian agriculture.

In discussions in ICAC 2025, researchers pointed out that, in several developing countries, modern technology coexists with persistent structural inequalities in access to land, credit, and rural infrastructure. This diagnosis closely resembles Brazil’s historical experience, in which agricultural modernisation – especially from the second half of the twentieth century – occurred alongside high levels of land concentration. The advancement of productive forces in this case did not automatically bring about profound changes in the social relations of production.

The development of technologies suited to local ecological conditions as a decisive factor in increasing agricultural productivity in tropical regions has a parallel in the Brazilian experience, particularly with respect to the role of research institutions responsible for developing such agricultural technologies.

There were other issues raised at the Conference that are fruitful areas for comparative study. They include the need for agricultural development to be guided by policies of social inclusion and livelihood development; the need to develop agricultural systems that bring together goals of productivity enhancement, environmental sustainability, and climate adaptation; and the need for production strategies that pay attention to product diversification, sustainable soil management, and the integration of different agricultural processes.

Brazil’s experience – marked by the combination of technological advances expansion of the agricultural frontier, and the institutional development of agricultural research – offers important lessons for international discussion and debate. Further, the challenges faced by Brazil – including land inequality, agrarian conflicts, and environmental impacts – demonstrate that the transformation of rural economies remains a complex and multifaceted process.

The study of distinct national experiences can contribute significantly to expanding the understanding of contemporary processes of agrarian change and to identifying possible pathways for sustainable agricultural development in countries of the Global South.

Final Considerations

The historical analysis of agriculture in Brazil agriculture reveals the complexity of the processes that have shaped the sector’s development over more than five centuries. Since the earliest moments of Portuguese colonisation, agricultural production has played a central role in the country’s economic and territorial organisation.

During the colonial period, agriculture was strongly associated with a production model oriented towards the export of tropical products, especially sugar. This productive model contributed to the formation of an agrarian structure based on large rural estates and enslaved labour, whose social and economic effects persisted for a long period in Brazil’s history.

Subsequently, the expansion of coffee cultivation in the nineteenth century promoted new transformations in the agrarian economy, stimulating the modernisation of regions such as the state of São Paulo and contributing to the development of infrastructure and internal markets.

In the twentieth century, Brazil’s agriculture underwent a process of accelerated technological modernisation, driven by public policies, investments in scientific research, and integration into international markets. The incorporation of technologies associated with the Green Revolution, combined with the development of research focused on tropical agriculture, enabled significant increases in productivity and the expansion of agricultural production into new regions of the national territory.

These transformations contributed to consolidating Brazil as one of the world’s leading agricultural powers, with a strong presence in international markets for food, fibres, and biofuels. At the same time, Brazilian agriculture continues to be marked by the coexistence of different productive models, including highly mechanised large agricultural enterprises and millions of family farming units.

Recent debates presented at the International Conference on Agrarian Change (2025) reinforce the global relevance of these issues. The discussions held during the event highlighted that processes of agricultural modernisation observed in different countries of the Global South often combine significant technological advances with persistent social, institutional, and environmental challenges. In this sense, the Brazilian experience offers important elements for comparison with other tropical agrarian economies, such as India.

The contemporary challenges of Brazilian agriculture involve the need to reconcile economic growth, environmental sustainability, and social inclusion. The preservation of natural resources, the reduction of rural inequalities, and the strengthening of food security constitute fundamental elements for building a balanced and sustainable model of rural development.

International dialogue between different national experiences – such as those of Brazil and India – becomes particularly relevant for expanding the understanding of ongoing processes of agrarian change in the twenty-first century. The exchange of experiences and knowledge, and the analysis of public policies can contribute to the development of strategies that promote agricultural systems that are more productive, sustainable, and socially inclusive.