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Cheese, grain, salami and handicraft from states like Santa Catarina, in southeastern Brazil, and Bahia, in the Northeast, are some of the products to be found at the Family Farming and Land Reform Fair.
The fair begins on June 21 and goes on up to June 25, at Expo-Brasília Exhibition Pavilion, in Brazilian capital Brasília. Organic farmers will stand out among the 500 exhibitors from all states in the country. Around 20% of the products, like seasoning, fruit and cassava, are organic. "We have been stimulating this participation as we understand that it is necessary to develop a process between family farmers so that they, during their daily lives, may be able to implement a more sustainable agriculture process," stated the coordinator of the Agroindustrial Program of the Agrarian Development Ministry, Adelmar Batista. Theme stands with artistic products made by native women will also be included at the event - this year with 153 exhibitors. St. John's day, June 24, will be celebrated with typical foods eaten at Brazilian June Parties, like popcorn, hot dogs, pinion seeds, hot wine and quentão, a warm cane spirit drink. Apart from sales to the general public, on June 23 and 24 there will be business roundtables between farmers and businessmen, like owners of restaurant, bars and supermarkets. In the last edition of the fair, the participants sold around R$ 1.5 million (around US$ 800,000) and another R$ 8 million (US$ 3.5 million) were negotiated during the roundtables. The fair is also operating due to exports, according to Adelmar Batista. According to him, in 2005 coffee producers from Minas Gerais closed trade deals with Turkey. The forecast is for the fair to be visited by around 60,000 people, the same number that went there last year. The funds collected from ticket sales will be turned to the Brazilian Zero Hunger program. Organization of the fair is by the Ministry of Agrarian Development. Agência Brasil
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