Disaffiliation of Family Producers in Uruguay’s Dairy Value Chain

The crisis in the Uruguayan dairy industry raises alerts about the intensification processes and the expulsion of family dairy producers who supply industrial plants. In the period 2010-2020, a reduction of almost 800 milk producers was seen in the country. In this context, research was carried out from the qualitative paradigm that sought, from the case of the members of the Agremiación de Tamberos de Canelones (association of dairy farmers of Canelones), to understand the processes of disaffiliation of dairy farmers to the dairy industry between 2005 and 2020. A four-stage methodological strategy was proposed, which triangulated different techniques (interviews, observation, document review) to collect the perspective of disaffiliated dairy family producers. The obtained results allowed for the characterization of milk production at the national level and in the department of Canelones, as well as the identification of different trajectories of disaffiliation of union members in the study period. Various aspects of the intensification process and the increase in the complexity of management driven by the chain arose among the main factors of disaffiliation, which stress the land-family-production relationships, impacting the possibilities of permanence and reproduction in the sector for family producers.