Alternative marketing initiatives: analysis based on the experience of Rede Raízes da Mata

Abstract

The way agrifood system were organized globally results in limited access to food for a certain
part of the population, both in quality and in quantity. Another point is the great waste of energy
resulting in making consumption less viable, especially due to the distance between producers
and consumers. Analyzing the current scenario emerges alternative marketing networks, with
the purpose of setting up shorter commercialization circuits. One of these initiatives is the Raízes
da Mata, founded in 2011 in Viçosa, Minas Gerais. The purpose of this report is to describe
the path mapped by the network until then, which besides the commercialization proposes also
the promotion of agroecology. With five years of experience great progress has been made in
publicizing the proposal. Each week more people from different places are interacting, especially
in the dialogue with the university community. The path demonstrates the potential for
modifying the traditional definition of agrifood systems