Abstract
Agriculture in Brazil is booming. Brazil has the world’s second largest cattle herd and is the second largest producer of soybeans, with the production of beef, soybeans, and bioethanol forecast to increase further. Questions remain, however, about how Brazil can reconcile increases in agricultural production with protection of its remaining natural vegetation. While high hopes have been placed on the potential for intensification of low-productivity cattle ranching to spare land for other agricultural uses, cattle productivity in the Amazon biome (29% of the Brazilian cattle herd) remains stubbornly low, and it is not clear how to realize theoretical productivity gains in practice. We provide results from six initiatives in the Brazilian Amazon, which are successfully improving cattle productivity in beef and dairy production on more than 500,000 hectares of pastureland, while supporting compliance with the Brazilian Forest Code. Spread across diverse geographies, and using a wide range of technologies, participating farms have improved productivity by 30–490%. High-productivity cattle ranching requires some initial investment (R$1300–6900/ha or US$410–2180/ha), with average pay-back times of 2.5–8.5 years. We conclude by reflecting on the challenges that must be overcome to scale up these young initiatives, avoid rebound increases in deforestation, and mainstream sustainable cattle ranching in the Amazon.
Highlights
There is growing competition for land use in Brazil
Our data are self-reported, though our productivity improvements are in line with previous literature on the productivity gains from improvements in farm management in Brazil [5,64,65,66,67], and our estimates of the costs of intensification are an important resource for accurately estimating the cost-effectiveness of cattle intensification in the Amazon
As cattle ranching makes up the majority of agricultural land and productivity is still well below its sustainable potential, improvements in cattle productivity are key to the sustainable intensification of Brazilian agriculture
Summary
Soy, and bioethanol production are forecast to grow 24%, 39%, and 27%, respectively, in the decade [1], even as the government has committed to reforest 12 million hectares of land and reduce deforestation—with zero illegal deforestation by 2030 [2]. As pasture makes up the majority of agricultural land, high hopes are placed on the potential for increases in cattle productivity to spare land and accommodate the expansion of other land uses. The Brazilian contribution to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC, New York, NY, USA), includes commitments to reduce deforestation and increase cattle productivity through the restoration of 15 million hectares of degraded pasture [2]
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