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Worker shortage, rural exodus, and family succession pressure Brazilian agribusiness in a phase of technological advancement, greater demand for professional management, and search for young people prepared to take over properties linked to food production.
The lack of qualified labor and low family succession pressure Brazilian agribusiness, especially in chains that depend on technical management, constant investment, and the permanence of young people prepared to take over rural properties.
Between 2010 and 2022, Brazil lost 4.3 million rural residents, according to IBGE, while agricultural properties began to require more financial control, planning, technology, and leadership capacity.
Data from the 2017 Agricultural Census indicate that the country had 15.1 million people employed in agricultural establishments and about 77% of properties classified as family farming.
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In Santa Catarina, generational renewal is even more concerning because, among more than 321 thousand active rural producers, only one in ten shows signs of family continuity, according to a survey by Sebrae-SC.
Rural succession becomes a strategic challenge
Keeping young people in the countryside is no longer just a family decision and has come to directly affect the continuity of production in chains that depend on efficiency, predictability, and professional management.
In poultry and swine activities, common in the South of the country, properties operate with high technical demands and need quick decisions on costs, management, teams, investments, and use of technology.
José Antônio Ribas Junior, executive director of Agriculture at Seara, states that the sector faces less availability of workers, difficulty in retention in the countryside, and an increasingly complex rural environment.
“Agribusiness is a stronghold for our business. But today we have less available labor, greater difficulty in retaining people in the countryside, and a much more complex management environment,” he said.
In the executive’s assessment, succession needs to go beyond the transfer of assets, as the new generation must manage properties that function as rural enterprises, with indicators, goals, team, and planning.
Program trains young producers
To respond to this scenario, JBS, through Seara, launched the Young SuperAgro, a training program aimed at rural producers aged 18 to 30 linked to family properties integrated with the company.
The first edition brings together 60 participants in the West of Santa Catarina and the North of Rio Grande do Sul, with an 18-month training structured in partnership with Sebrae.
Throughout the program, young producers participate in in-person classes, mentoring, virtual meetings, and projects applied on the properties, totaling more than 100 hours of training in financial management, family succession, leadership, technology, and sustainability.
According to Ribas, the demand exceeded the company’s initial expectations, as almost 150 young people applied for the 60 available spots, indicating a demand for qualification to take over family businesses in the field.
The initial module involves parents and children, with an exclusive focus on family succession, to transform the transition into a planned process and reduce common difficulties in the transfer of responsibilities between generations.
Technology helps keep young people in the field
With control systems, sensors, automation, and remote monitoring, the modernization of farms has brought young people closer to rural activities and increased the need for technical knowledge in daily production.
Swine producer in Seara, in the West of Santa Catarina, Maicon Toffoli, 28 years old, participates in the program alongside his father, Larri Toffoli, on a property with a capacity for more than 2,000 pigs in the finishing phase.
“Today technology is very advanced. There is always something new to learn and it makes the work much easier,” said Maicon.
According to him, temperature controls, ventilation, and digital systems allow monitoring of production stages via cell phone or computer, making the routine more efficient and expanding control over the farm.
Larri took over the activity at 18, after succession with his father, and believes that today’s young people have more access to information, more study opportunities, and better conditions to prepare for the continuity of the family business.
Women gain space in rural management
Succession has also increased the female presence in management roles, as shown by the trajectory of Thalia Alberici, 24 years old, from Entre Rios, in Santa Catarina, a member of the first class of Young SuperAgro.
On the family property, she works in the administrative, financial, and human resources areas of a Piglet Production Unit with 1,800 sows, in addition to overseeing a finishing farm with a capacity for 4,000 animals.
Before returning to rural activities, Thalia worked as a nursing technician, an experience that, according to her, contributed to people management and a closer relationship with employees.
“Training does not replace family experience, but it prepares young people for a completely different system than what existed in the past,” said Thalia.
For the producer, the current routine requires constant updating, leadership, and mastery of management tools, as well as document organization, asset planning, and better-structured internal processes.
Investment seeks to strengthen the chain
Within the SuperAgro Platform, Seara’s relationship program with more than 10,000 integrated poultry and swine producers in Brazil, the Young SuperAgro reinforces the company’s qualification strategy.
In the last ten years, Seara claims to have invested more than R$ 4 billion in training, technical assistance, technology, and competitiveness of the properties linked to its production chain.
For Ribas, training successors improves the efficiency of farms and contributes to the sustainability of the chain, as better-prepared young people tend to make quick decisions, monitor indicators, and strengthen the permanence of families in rural activities.
The renewal in the field remains linked to the ability to transform family properties into professionalized businesses, without breaking the legacy built by generations of rural producers.
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