Three Decades of Changes in Brazilian Municipalities and Their Food Production Systems

Ramon Felipe Bicudo Da Silva,Emilio Moran,Jianguo Liu,Mateus Batistella,James D A Millington,Luiz A Martinelli,Yue Dou

doi:10.3390/land9110422

Abstract

Agricultural systems are heterogeneous across temporal and spatial scales. Although much research has investigated farm size and economic output, the synergies and trade-offs across various agricultural and socioeconomic variables are unclear. This study applies a GIS-based approach to official Brazilian census data (Agricultural Censuses of 1995, 2006, and 2017) and surveys at the municipality level to (i) evaluate changes in the average soybean farm size across the country and (ii) compare agricultural and socioeconomic outcomes (i.e., soybean yield, agricultural production value, crop production diversity, and rural labor employment) relative to the average soybean farm size. Statistical tests (e.g., Kruskal–Wallis tests and Spearman’s correlation) were used to analyze variable outcomes in different classes of farm sizes and respective Agricultural Censuses. We found that agricultural and socioeconomic outcomes are spatially correlated with soybean farm size class. Therefore, based on the concepts of trade-offs and synergies, we show that municipalities with large soybean farm sizes had larger trade-offs (e.g., larger farm size was associated with lower crop diversity), while small and medium ones manifest greater synergies. These patterns are particularly strong for analysis using the Agricultural Census of 2017. Trade-off/synergy analysis across space and time is key for supporting long-term strategies aiming at alleviating unemployment and providing sustainable food production, essential to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Highlights

Food production systems are diverse by nature and vary in space and time depending on cultural and social assets, available infrastructure, capital, market, and biophysical conditions
We examine the Brazilian food system, looking at municipalities according to their average soybean farm sizes
Our results suggest an important trade-off between production and socioeconomic outcomes in municipalities with large average soybean farm sizes, i.e., areas with large farms, have decreased human-labor dependency and crop diversity but increased soybean planted area as the lower value-added per each hectare demands large-scale operations

Summary

Introduction

Food production systems are diverse by nature and vary in space and time depending on cultural and social assets, available infrastructure, capital, market, and biophysical conditions. This variability leads to, e.g., the emergence of large, medium and small farms (in terms of area and production volumes), and differences in crops produced [1]. Greater understanding is needed about when, where, and in which situations large or small farms can achieve better production outcomes, and improved synergies considering production, environment, and economy [1,6,7,8,9,10]

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Conclusion