Social inequality is the grim norm in Brazil. The farming smallholders are one of the most underprivileged groups in the Brazilian society. Their farms were gradually taken over so that the land could be used for large scale soy and sugar cane plantations (sugar cane is used for fuel production in Brazil). In the search of employment, some of the farmers moved to urban areas; while others ended up in encampamentos, rural slums where the dwellers pass their time, waiting for land.

The government in Paris is keen on increasing the public interest in farming issues, boosting the importance of agricultural ecology, and the production of local food. New legislation is to provide another trigger for the French farmers to accelerate the growth of the national agricultural sector.