Análise das emoções e dos pontos de vista dos stakeholders nas cadeias curtas de alimentos: uma abordagem integrada com a metodologia q e análise de sentimentos

Abstract

The sustainability of food supply chains has become one of the major challenges of the global food system, especially in the face of logistical inefficiencies, coordination failures, inadequate pricing strategies, and vulnerabilities exposed by critical events such as the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, short food supply chains (SFSCs) have emerged as a promising alternative by promoting sustainable practices and strengthening the resilience of food systems. In Brazil, despite public policies such as the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) and the National School Feeding Program (PNAE), only a small portion of family farmers effectively participates in these networks, revealing structural and organizational barriers that hinder the expansion of this model. This study aimed to investigate the perspectives, emotions, and feelings of key SFSC stakeholders — including producers, consumers, government representatives, and experts — regarding the factors that facilitate commercialization within these channels. To this end, the Q Methodology was employed, combined with Sentiment Analysis, allowing the identification of viewpoints across seven main factors: Trust in product quality; Optimism about financial return; Hope in government incentives; Cooperative strengthening and structuring of short supply chains; Optimism in the valorization of short chains; Expectation of efficient and sustainable management; and Consumer empowerment. Across all factors, trust emerged as a transversal emotion, followed by other positive and negative emotional responses. A predominance of positive sentiments over negative ones was also observed, reinforcing the symbolic and affective power of short supply chains as spaces for social, economic, and territorial transformation. The findings suggest that strengthening SFSCs requires the development of intersectoral public policies that integrate infrastructure, credit, land access, technical training, and the symbolic valorization of food and its producers. Therefore, it is concluded that SFSCs, in addition to enhancing food system resilience, have the potential to foster fairer, more inclusive, and territorially rooted systems, provided they are structured based on integrated public policies and the cultivation of lasting social and emotional ties.