This Ph.D. dissertation could not have been completed without the contribution and support of many people and institutions. In the following, I'd like to express my gratitude to them. First, I am grateful to Dr. Claus Deblitz for giving me the opportunity to carry out my doctoral research in Germany, and for his guidance and support throughout the process. Especially, for being patient with the uncountable IT errors when uploading the Ph.D. evaluation forms. I am also grateful to Prof. Dr. Ludwig Theuvsen for being my first adviser and hosting me at the chair of Agribusiness Management. I am also thankful to Prof. Dr. Folkhard Isermeyer for being part of my thesis committee and my first examiner. I am very thankful to Prof. Dr. Bernhard Brümmer for giving inspiring classes and for accepting the role of second examiner of my dissertation. My stay in Germany was facilitated by the Ph.D. Stipend provided by the Brazilian National Council for the Development of Science and Technology (CNPq). More than supporting my Ph.D., the stipend also allowed my wife Miriam to complete her Bachelor in Food Sciences at the Hochschule Hannover. Thus, I am grateful to CNPq for the opportunity and hope to have spent wisely the Brazilian taxpayers' money. I'd like to thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for granting me two months of German course in Berlin at the beginning of my journey. I also would like to express my gratitude to the institutions that supported this research by providing data for the research. The Institute of Economic and Social Development of Paraná (IPARDES) for providing the database used in the first paper. Embrapa South-eastern Research Centre for facilitating the analysis in the second paper. My thanks to the Grupo de Pesquisa em Sistemas Integrados de Produção Agropecuária -GPSIPA/UFRGS for providing the experimental data for the last paper. My special thanks to Ph.D. Caetano L. Beber who has received me at the University of Göttingen and familiarised me with the department. Also, for collaborating on the first and second papers of my dissertation, providing insightful ideas and giving the opportunity of discussing the challenges of improving dairy farming in Brazil. I would like to thank Dr. Bernhard Dalheimer for engaging in the discussion with me and Caetano in the second paper, and for giving me the opportunity of working in a team. Thank you both for the great lessons! I am grateful to M.Sc. Gabrielli Martinelli and Dr. Felipe Dalzotto Artuzo who facilitated data collection in the third paper and provided insightful comments on the manuscript.Chapter 2 2 Carbon footprint and mitigation strategies among heterogeneous dairy farms in Paraná, Brazil 15