No abstract

The conflict between food production and environmental conservation demands alternative agriculture practices to maintain or increase food production, protect and restore critical ecosystem processes, and reduce dependence on non-renewable agricultural inputs. Deforestation in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, for which agriculture has been a primary driver, already threatens the biome’s impressive biodiversity and the ecosystem services it helps sustain. Many small family farmers in Santa Catarina—located in the South of Brazil—have adopted the Voisin Rational Grazing System (VRG) as an alternative to conventional and environmentally detrimental dairy activities. This article presents the results of a research project designed to analyze the economic, social, and ecological VRG impacts based on farmers’ perceptions and economic accounts. We compare farmer profitability and critical social and environmental aspects of both systems using detailed interviews and monthly accounting of revenues and expenditures on VRG and conventional farms. We found that VRG is more profitable than the conventional dairy system in Santa Rosa de Lima. However, most farmers combine VRG with some conventional practices, affecting profitability and potential ecological benefits. The adoption of VRG in Santa Rosa de Lima nonetheless correlates with reduced use of environmentally harmful inputs, compatible with a gradual transition to a more ecologically-friendly and sustainable system.

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The conflict between food production and environmental conservation demands alternative agricultural practices that can maintain or increase food production, protect and restore critical ecosystem processes, and reduce dependence on non-renewable agricultural inputs. Deforestation in Brazil's Atlantic Forest, for which agriculture has been a primary driver, already threatens the biome's impressive biodiversity and the ecosystem services it helps sustain. Many small family farms in Santa Catarina-located in the South Region of Brazil-have adopted the Voisin Rational Grazing (VRG) system as an alternative to conventional and environmentally detrimental dairy activities. Whether or not VRG is a viable approach to sustainable intensification on small farms depends on its economic and ecological impacts. This article, which is a chapter of a PhD dissertation defended at Graduate Program on Environmental Science (PROCAM), presents the results of a research project designed to test economic impacts. Using detailed monthly Estudos socioambientais: diversidade de olhares 94 accounting of revenues and expenditures on VRG and conventional farms, we compare farm profitability of both systems. We found that the VRG system is more profitable than the conventional dairy system in Santa Rosa de Lima, a municipality in Santa Catarina. However, most farmers combine VRG with some conventional practices, which affect both profitability and potential ecological benefits. Voisin Rational Grazing in Santa Rosa de Lima is also correlated with reduced use of degrading inputs, suggesting a gradual transition to a more agroecological system.