The data presented by Alan Bojanic for the United Nations Annual Report on Food and Nutrition Security for 2017 indicated that after nearly a decade of decline, the number of people affected by hunger in the world increased again with 815 million people in this situation and 11% of the world’s population suffering from chronic malnutrition by 2016 (Organização das Nações Unidas para Agricultura e Alimentação, 2017). In 2017, 124 million needed emergency food assistance compared to 108 million in 2016.

On the other hand, there are 641 million obese adults, which corresponds to 13% of the total adults on the planet. So one of the challenges to be faced relates to the food security of the growing world population, expected to reach 10 billion by 2050. Not just access to sufficient, but with quality and diversity to meet their nutritional needs. The Sustainable Development Goals (ODS) have brought hunger, food and nutritional security and agriculture under Objective 2: “Ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture”.

In this scenario, Brazil has emerged as the country with great potential for growth in food production. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that a country is expected to leverage its production by about 40 percent, while countries like China (15 percent), the European Union (12 percent), the United States (10 percent), Canada (9%), Australia (9%) and Russia (7%) are also expected to grow significantly by 2027.

The Agribusiness Projections Report Brazil 2016/17 to 2026/27, prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), estimates that grain production should grow 24% in the period, highlighting corn, soybeans and wheat. Meat production (beef, pork and poultry) is expected to grow by 28%. Faced with such projections, the question that emerges is: what kind of food will be produced for the Brazilian and world population? Would not this pattern of consumption be a key aspect of increasing obesity in the world? Would not we be fomenting the same model that has generated wars and conflicts and, combined with natural phenomena such as droughts, floods, has generated mass migrations and increased hunger in the world?

Undoubtedly, the long circuits that shape the food empires are able to meet the world food demand. However, traditional rural development strategies have disregarded the short marketing circuits, based on this face-to-face interaction, in the relations of trust between producer and consumer in the academic, social and political spheres.

In this sense, discussions about the short and decentralized marketing circuits (Marsden, Banks & Bristow, 2000; Gazolla & Schneider, 2013, 2017; Ploeg, 2008) are intensified, bringing together production and consumption, such as producer fairs, delivery of baskets, small producers’ stores, sale in the properties deriving from agrotourism, institutional markets, among others. Given this alternative, family farming plays a key role, accounting for about 80% of world food production, according to the UN.

In view of the above, it is believed that the territorial perspective of rural development and, more specifically, territorial policies have the potential to encompass the dimensions of food security discussed above, promoting development dynamics that, when approximating production and consumption, will be able to promote food sovereignty, greater social equity and fewer environmental impacts. The intention is to show that, although the Brazilian territorial policy is allowing the creation or strengthening of short commercialization circuits, this is not an explicit policy objective even if this potential is observed to be fomented, capable of giving policy the territorial character.

Thus, this article is structured in five sections to include this introduction. The second part deals with Brazilian territorial politics and its dynamics, highlighting how the rural perspective of development advances with the question of territories. In the third section, we highlight the approach of short marketing circuits as a theoretical proposal for understanding rural territorial development based on its public policy. Following, the methodology of the work is presented which is the result of a research project funded by the promotion agency CNPq (Brazil). In addition, we have the analysis of the rural projects understood as experiences of short circuits of commercialization as a mechanism to promote territorial development. Finally, they follow the considerations.

The territorial perspective of development is an important advance for the promotion of development, especially rural development, since public policies with this perspective have actions focused on rural areas. Sabourin, Massardier and Sotomayor (2016) emphasize that these policies consider the specificities of each territory as opposed to the vertical approach that divides public action into sectors. The characteristics and resources of each territory are valued, which would be the place of definition and solution of public problems. They also imply a localized treatment of issues and, therefore, the development of a plurality of actors involved in the production of a political and social bond.

The principle of the territorialization of public policies would be based on three points: 1) the public service or good is not evenly distributed by the central authority; 2) the attempt to approach users or beneficiaries in decision-making about problems; 3) the territory is not defined administratively, but according to a specifically territorial dynamics (Sabourin et al., 2016).

The territorial perspective of sustainable rural development, proposed by the Brazilian State, involves an integrative vision of spaces, social actors, markets and public intervention policies. It is proposed the development of solutions that contemplate combinations between the various dimensions of sustainable development: economic, socio-cultural, political-institutional and environmental (Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário, 2004).

In the conception of Brandão (2008), in order to affirm that there has been development, there must be involvement and legitimation of actions capable of breaking with the previous status quo, which also involves tensions, choice of alternatives and construction of historical trajectories, looking for temporal horizons of short, medium and long term. For the author, this process of transformation must be promoted simultaneously in the productive, social, technological (and others that are) dimensions and in the local, regional, national, global, and so on, to allow greater strengthening of decision autonomy and broaden the scope of action of social subjects.

In this perspective, the policy with a territorial designation arises in Brazil in the rural sphere, within the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA), with the creation of the Territorial Development Secretariat (SDT), implementing the Program for the Sustainable Development of Rural Territories (Pronat), created in 2003 and Territory of Citizenship Program (PTC), created in 2008.

In Pronat, territory is understood as a geographically defined physical space comprising cities and fields, characterized by multidimensional criteria (environment, economy, society, culture, politics and institutions) and a population with distinct social groups where one can distinguish one or more elements that indicate social, cultural and territorial identity and cohesion. The rural territory would be the space where the multidimensional criteria that characterize it present the predominance of rural elements (Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário, 2004).

The objective of Pronat was to promote and support initiatives of the representative institutions of rural areas that aim at a sustainable increase in the quality of life levels of the rural population. The selection of rural territories for actions was based on geographic microregions that showed population density of less than 80 inhab/km² and an average population per municipality of up to 50,000 inhabitants, as well as the presence of family farmers, settled families and families of campesino workers (Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário, 2004). Based on the criteria established by SDT, 239 rural territories were established (Secretaria do Desenvolvimento Territorial, 2010), according to figure 1 that follows.

Figure 1 Figure 1 239 territories supported by SDT/MDA Source: Sistema de Gestão Estratégica: http://sge.mda.gov.br/sge/index.html

The organizational structure of the territories was supported by the Colleges of Territorial Development (Codeter), which should be composed of representatives of the municipal, state and federal spheres and society, with at least a 50% participation by civil society. Codeter was responsible for deliberating and proposing actions for the sustainable development of territories, as well as articulating public policies, planning actions and defining the programs and projects that should be part of the Territorial Plan for Sustainable Territorial Development (PTDRS).

Wesz Júnior and Leite (2010) summarize that in 2003, the lines of action were based on two modalities of Pronaf: (a) Infrastructure and Municipal Services and (b) Training of Family Farmers. These two lines ceased to be part of Pronaf and became part of Pronat through its functions: Support to Infrastructure and Services Projects in Rural Territories and Training of Development Agents. At the same time, two other actions included Pronat, not included in its budget matrix: a) Financial Assistance through Parliamentary Amendments and b) Dom Helder Câmara Project (PDHC) - Sustainable Development for Settlements of Agrarian Reform in the Northeastern Semi-Arid Region.

As for the volume of funds contracted, these increased from R$ 82.7 million in 2003 to R$ 264.7 million in 2007, which corresponds to an increase of 272%. From 2007 to 2008, there was a decrease in the contracted value of approximately R$ 40 million, linked to the decrease in resources resulting from the parliamentary amendments. While the other lines increased their budget in 2008, the territorial amendments were down 50% compared to the previous year (Wesz Júnior & Leite, 2010).

The Territorial Citizenship Program (PTC) is the result of the finding of significant socioeconomic inequalities between the rural territories themselves. The priority of the PTC was to serve territories that have low access to basic services, indices of stagnation in income generation, and lack of integrated and sustainable policies for economic autonomy. The main objective is to overcome poverty and generate work and income in rural areas through a sustainable territorial development strategy (Secretaria do Desenvolvimento Territorial, 2011).

Based on the concept of territory adopted by Pronat, the PTC adds new criteria for the selection of Citizenship Territories among the rural territories, with one presence per state in 2008 and two in 2009. The criteria mentioned are: (a) Human Development Index (HDI); (b) greater concentration of family farmers and settlers of Agrarian Reform; (c) greater concentration of quilombolas and natives; (d) greater number of beneficiaries of federal income transfer programs; (e) greater number of municipalities with low economic dynamism; (f) greater social organization; (g) Lower Basic Education Development Index (Ideb) (Wesz Júnior & Leite, 2010). Thus, the PTC covered 120 territories of citizenship, according to figure 2.

Figure 2 Figure 2 Territories of Citizenship supported by PTC Source: Sistema de Gestão Estratégica: http://sge.mda.gov.br/sge/index.html

The coordination of the Program was carried out by the MDA, its institutional articulation by the Civil House, the budget issue by the Ministry of Budget and Management Planning (MPOG) and monitoring by the Center for Agrarian Studies and Rural Development (NEAD) (Wesz Júnior & Leite, 2010).

Regarding the resources destined to the PTC, the authors point out that in 2008 the predicted value for the 60 Territories of Citizenship reached R $ 12.8 billion, a figure that reached almost R $ 25 billion in 2009 with the entry of 60 new territories. In 2010, the amount of funds increased to R $ 26.8 billion. There was therefore a growth of 109.8% from 2008 to 2010. The lines with the highest growth were (a) sustainable organization of production and health and (b) sanitation and access to water, which increased the estimated value by 187.5% and 147.7%, respectively. The theme that had a reduction in these three years was that of Land Stocks (27%).

However, there are several challenges that must be addressed to the territorial policy of rural development in Brazil. Sabourin (2017), for example, warns that, despite the innovative proposal that brings the territorial approach, a top-down characteristic still prevails, an operational stance to recognize mainly state agencies as public policy actors, a significant departure from institutionality and territorial social actors.

These characteristics, together with the cooling of the proposal from 2011 onwards at the federal level, with a consequent weakening of the institutions, disarticulation and frustration of the territorial actors, made difficult the progress of the territorial policy. The financing of collective infrastructure and equipment does not allow responding to many of the priority structural problems identified in the PTDRS.

Oliveira and Perafán (2012) also point out that in a participatory management model, focusing on the territorial approach, it is important that all members of the territorial institutions know how to plan strategically, as well as responsible and monitor actions and projects considering elements of social management, such as: autonomy, social inclusion, productive inclusion, guarantee of access to basic rights and training for a conscious and effective participation in the development processes of rural territories.

It is latent the need of consolidation of territorial instances and execution of actions, in a more autonomous way. One of the factors that can explain this situation is the way of sensitization and mobilization implemented to start the cycle of social management in the territories. The territorial actors called for the constitution of the Collegiate are motivated more by the resources to finance projects and less to the constitution of a territorial development project point (Oliveira, Perafán & Conterato, 2013).

Ortega, de Cerqueira and da Silva (2016), emphasize that, despite the intentionalities of the innovations introduced by territorial-cutting policies, their adoption in governance structures is still far from being a reality. This implementation requires the building of a comprehensive territorial cohesion that creates the conditions for the architecture of territorial pacts for the inclusive development of the social, rural and urban segments. Concerning this pact, it is intended to draw attention to the aspect of short marketing circuits, understood here as an important strategy for the promotion of food and nutritional sovereignty and security and rural territorial development.

Although Sabourin et al. (2016) point out that in Latin America initiatives are already being tried to bring together producers, consumer markets and agribusiness, perceiving productive alliances between farmers and agribusiness (Chile, Ecuador), peasant-cook alliances Peru), public purchasing programs for family farmers (Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, etc.), family agriculture fairs and agroecological fairs (Argentina, Brazil, Peru), it is pointed out that this perspective is not officially adopted by the Brazilian territorial policy . That is, despite the territorial policy proposing to overcome the strictly sectoral horizon, the development dynamics implemented need to advance in this aspect, promoting a closer field-city and producer-consumer.

Development processes in rural areas, hegemonically, follow the pattern of modernity. Taking back Beck (2009), we corroborate with the idea that the paradigm of modernity is in crisis. Society is feeling the effects and limits of the system based on progress, reason, scientificity, individualism and the unbridled search for economic growth - that is, in the form of development that supports the project of modernity. It is understood that the self-confrontation that the author treats is expressed in the theme discussed here, when he reflects on a growing number of consumers who opt, especially in developed countries, but not exclusively for healthier, local, fresh, replace fast food with slow food, as FAO itself (2018) points out.

Warns Porto Gonçalves (2004) that science has been developed to make more efficient the production of biomass in the temperate regions (that have lower intensity of solar energy in relation to the tropical regions). This is a contradiction that can only be explained by the importance of technical-scientific knowledge and the legal regulation of property (patents and individual intellectual property rights) for hegemonic countries and for large corporations, which holds the monopoly of specific knowledge, increasingly dependent on resources for research and development.

This is how the food empires are strengthened, understood by Ploeg (2008) as the highly centralized mode of organization, made up of large food processing and marketing companies operating on a world scale, are strengthened. Therefore, agro-food globalization threatens the cultural and agricultural heritage, rural and food, and has also contributed to deepening the ecological crisis in which we live, as Guzmán (2007) highlights. This change in the balance of agroecosystems intertwines with the mechanisms of social exclusion that accompany the increasing dependence of the market.

It is argued here that the attainment of food and nutritional sovereignty and security will not be ensured by the strengthening of the long chains, as expressed in the USDA and MAPA projections, by exporting primary products or even processed commodities. Healthy, diversified and fresh foods that respect the eating habits of different populations also require a look and the establishment of strategies to strengthen family production and short circuits.

It is also understood that, given a context of increasing obesity and an increase in the world demand for food, these circuits come back as a possibility to foment local economies, including peripheral ones, to provide access to varied and fresh food, able to provide sovereignty and food and nutrition security. It is worth emphasizing that in the construction and strengthening of these local circuits of production-consumption, the role of the consumer is essential.

According to Matte, Neske, Borba, Waquil and Schneider (2014), the term “short” was initially presented by Terry Marsden (geographer and sociologist) and deals with the characteristics that a given product presents to the consumer, while retaining their physical information. The idea of ​​short circuits does not only concern the distance traveled by food. The short food chains make possible a process of resocialization or respacialization of the food, making possible the judgment of value by the consumer. These new (direct) marketing models also allow the negotiation of the best prices and the resumption of sales control by producers with the qualification of consumers.

The relationship with the Brazilian territorial policy can be woven by understanding that the short circuits of commercialization are essential for the local economy, for the generation of work and income and the supply of healthy foods, as proposed by the PTC’s larger objective. In addition, the proximity circuits, according to Macías (2018), are forms of commerce that incorporate the territorial dimension, in which there is a direct, close or reliable relationship between production/producer, circulation and consumption/consumer. Production, consumption and society are directly related and any change in one of them will generate changes in the others.

The author also systematizes the qualities of the short circuits: they maintain the value of the territories of origin through relocation, generate jobs, capture value from the territorial enclave, improve the resilience of territories, value heritage, act in the role of dynamizing and functional attraction in the territories, increase the territorial appropriation due to the spatial concentration of functions or the exploration of qualities of agricultural products. The combination of territorial proximity and short circuits helps to strengthen social ties and foster fair trade exchanges, while contributing to the greater autonomy of the actors.

Returning to Schneider and Ferrari (2015), the short chains have different dimensions, namely: a) spatial, by reducing the distances that foods travel between production and consumption; b) social, by providing face-to-face contact between producers and consumers, resulting in trust and integration in the chain; and, c) economic, by leveraging local markets for production.

In practical terms, the authors clarify that short circuits can occur through products produced in small rural family farms or in face-to-face relationships, such as home sales and free trade fairs, whether agricultural products or even handicrafts (Schneider & Ferrari, 2015). François (2000), on the other hand, defines short circuits as a way to commercialize the products allowing reducing the number of intermediaries between the producer and the consumer.

Marsden et al. (2000) add that short circuits occur when a product arrives in the hands of consumers with information that allows them to know about the place, the producer and the production system, i.e. where the product was produced, for who and how. For the authors, there are three types of short chain supply chains (SFSC), which are:

Spatial proximity: the products are produced and distributed in the specific region of production;

Fonseca de Albuquerque, de Almeida and Fendener Colnago (2009) emphasize as strength of the short circuits the exchange of knowledge, knowledge and tastes between producers, between producers and consumers, among consumers. There is also the possibility of better exercising social control over the organic qualities and guarantees of organic products identified by consumers due to producer-consumer involvement and support organizations (public, private or civil society); this quality is expressed in fresh products and with lower prices than in the networks of the large retailer due to direct sales producer.

According to Darolt, Lamine, Brandenburg, Alencar and Abreu (2016), one of the specificities of the short circuits is the questioning of some basic principles of the conventional system, such as homogenization, product standardization and the large number of intermediates in the commercialization over great distances. In this sense, alternative networks propose new principles of exchange, relocation of food, retake values, traditions and new types of relations between producers and consumers.

These authors discuss the ability of short circuits to generate structural changes on a larger scale. They argue that these markets can contribute to a transformation of power relations within the food systems, including greater participation of consumers and producers in the definition of modes of production, exchange and consumption, which refers to autonomy.

It is precisely because these short-circuit definitions approximate the territorial perspective of rural development, since both allude to the possibility of autonomy or protagonism of the actors and their local institutions. They emphasize the necessary link between concrete experiences and a social and political movement opposed to the dominant conventional model (Darolt et al., 2016). It is also seen that the territorial policy has the potential to contribute to this connection, and the territorial colleges can be the spaces of the social and political movement with the existing experiences.

A bottom-up action, promoting short circuits, could be the basis for the constitution of territorial development projects, still little consolidated, as already pointed out by Oliveira et al. (2013). They corroborate Darolt et al. (2016), that the learning provided by the circuits, agricultural practices and their impacts, culinary practices and democratic practices per se involve people and institutions and are sources of consumer empowerment, contributing to make them conscious citizens of their food or consumer citizens.

It should be emphasized that, although the territorial policy involves an integrative vision of spaces, social actors, markets and public policies of intervention, the consumer is a disregarded actor in this dynamic. Such actions of reconnection with the local should go beyond the objectives of the territorial policy itself. Considering the consumer as a social actor and integrating it into territorial dynamics seems fundamental for the development of the territory and its socio-cultural, political, economic and environmental specificities. The observation of Macías (2018), when dealing with the modalities of collective appropriation of the territory where food products are produced and consumed by emerging consumer groups, comes to this observation. It affirms that the place, the distance and the new modalities of rural-urban interface emerge as particular territorial dimensions that add additional value to the traditional food consumption culture.

Through the mentioned, the projects implemented in two rural territories and one of the citizenship in the southern region of Brazil will be analyzed, pointed by the members of the Collegiate as “projects with greater territorial repercussions” in the rural development, evidencing that these are representative of short commercialization circuits.

As a methodological path, this article is a result of the research carried out with funding from the Brazilian development agency, CAPES, through the edict MCTI/CNPq/MEC/CAPES N. 43/2013. So, a bibliographical research was initially carried out from official documents about the regional and territorial development policies that allowed to list the characteristics, objectives and actions that constitute these policies. Specifically for this work, the focus was on territorial politics.

From this information, field research was carried out in the three southern states of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná, where two rural territories (PR and SC) and one citizenship territory (RS) were identified, which were part of the main study. This research was descriptive, based on multiple case studies, with a qualitative approach. As a technique, 15 interviews were conducted with semi-structured script with members that make up the Meso-region Forum of the Great Frontier of Mercosur and Territorial Collegiate, and project beneficiaries.

This was a qualitative research, based on a case study. The choice of territories was based on the criterion of overlap between the two regionalizations. Out of all the possible territories, those with easier access to researchers were chosen. The members of the colleges were asked to indicate the most successful project or that best represented the territorial dynamics. In this way, the PRONAT project investigated the vitiviniculture project in the rural territory of Southwest Paranaense, the Unified System of Attention to Agricultural and Livestock Health (Prosuasa) in the municipality of Chapecó (SC) in the Rural Western Territory of Santa Catarina. Already by the PTC, in the territory of the Middle-High Uruguay citizenship, the project of strengthening family agriculture through the milk production chain was analyzed.

The projects that are analyzed in section 4 were chosen as the priorities by the interviewees. Also, the study of these projects through the approach of the short marketing circuits allows an empirical view of rural territorial development policy in regions that have historically been relegated to the traditional processes of agricultural production.

It was sought to draw attention in this work on the contribution of the short marketing circuits that reconnect producers and consumers, to promote sovereignty and food and nutritional security, especially in a scenario of increased hunger on the one hand, and overweight and obesity for another. Traditional rural development strategies have sought to include farmers, including their families, in markets characterized by long circuits, see Brazils Brazil 2016/17 to 2026/27 Projections Report, which proposes an increase in the export of Brazilian commodities. This hegemonic model may contribute to the reduction of hunger, but its contribution to the sovereignty and food and nutritional security of the peoples is questionable. It will be difficult to provide fresh, diversified and suitable food for the local / regional food crop from long lines. In the same way, the maintenance of the agroecosystemic biodiversity is put in check.

Small and biodiverse productive units have healthier economies and lower social problems. It has been observed that there are consumers seeking food backed by own values associated with family farming: fresh, organic, artisanal, territorial, with geographical indication, sustainable, etc. Expanding this is important both for the well-being of the producer and for the consumer and for the environment. It is important that public policies understand the role of the consumer in this process of rebuilding the relationship with food production.

On the other hand, consumers also need to be aware that their quality of life is closely associated with agricultural models and their multiple environmental services. That is, production, consumption and society are directly related and any change in one of them, will generate changes in the others as well as in the territorial dynamics of rural development.

Parallel to this discussion, there are two programs that use the territorial perspective of rural development that, besides being paralyzed by the Federal Government, did not incorporate the promotion of short circuits to their objectives, principles and methodology, nor did they include the consumer as an essential actor for the promotion of socio-cultural, environmental and economic dynamics in the territories. Although the projects presented in section 4 encourage short circuits and territorial policy support the overcoming of the strictly sectoral horizon, the development dynamics analyzed need to move forward in this aspect, and could promote a closer field-city and producer-consumer, expanding the institutions that support such dynamics.

Dynamic and consolidated agrifood short circuits reverberate in greater sovereignty and food and nutritional security, constituting a scalar mosaic of territories. It is understood that this is a means for the construction of a territorial cohesion that creates the conditions for the architecture of territorial pacts for the inclusive development of the social, rural and urban segments.