Toward a Spatial Understanding of Staple Food and Nonstaple Food Production in Brazil

Brown, John C.; Rausch, Lisa; Luz, Verônica Gronau

doi:10.1080/00330124.2013.781492

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(33 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The global economy is perhaps the strongest exogenous force driving agricultural expansion in Latin America [15], and the implications of export-oriented agricultural models could have important consequences for the broad array of food security indicators (e.g., supply, access, nutrition). Further research is needed to understand the effects and tradeoffs (e.g., changing diets [64]) of the changing agricultural production modes.…”

Section: Drivers Of Agricultural Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…As livestock grazing has moved to interior regions, traditional grazing regions, such as in the Argentine and Uruguayan grasslands, have transformed in part because soy is more profitable. Demand for food, feed, fiber, and biofuels has contributed to agricultural expansion in Latin America [15], although quantification of such linkages is challenging and rare [64].…”

Section: Drivers Of Agricultural Changementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Cropland/pastureland dynamics and the slowdown of deforestation in Latin America

Graesser

Aide

Grau

et al. 2015

Environ. Res. Lett.

205

120

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Latin America has the planet's largest land reserves for agriculture and had the most rapid agricultural expansion during the twenty-first century. A large portion of the expansion replaced forests, as shown by many local and regional studies. However, expansion varied regionally and also replaced other land covers. Further, it is important to distinguish between changes in cropland and pastureland as they produce food at different levels of efficiency and intensity. We used thirteen years (2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013) of MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite imagery to characterize cropland and pastureland expansion at multiple scales across Latin America. From 2001 to 2013, 17% of new cropland and 57% of new pastureland replaced forests throughout Latin America. Cropland expansion from 2001 to 2013 was less (44.27 Mha) than pastureland (96.9 Mha), but 44% of the 2013 cropland total was new cropland, versus 27% of the 2013 pastureland total, revealing higher regional expansion rates of row crop agriculture. The majority of cropland expansion was into pastureland within core agricultural regions of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. On the contrary, pastureland largely expanded at frontiers, such as central Brazil, western Paraguay, and northern Guatemala. As others have suggested, regional agriculture is strongly influenced by globalization. Indeed, we find an overall decrease in agricultural expansion after 2007, coinciding with the global economic slowdown. The results illustrate agricultural cropland and pastureland expansion across Latin America is largely segregated, and emphasize the importance of distinguishing between the two agricultural systems, as they vary in land use intensity and efficiency.

show abstract

Section: Drivers Of Agricultural Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Drivers Of Agricultural Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Cropland/pastureland dynamics and the slowdown of deforestation in Latin America

Graesser

Aide

Grau

et al. 2015

Environ. Res. Lett.

205

120

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Producing domestic staples, fruits and vegetables, alongside export crops like soy and cotton, can increase farmers' autonomy from volatile commodity markets, resilience to climate change and weather shocks, and sovereignty over the means of production (Altieri and Toledo 2011;Schneider and Niederle 2010). In terms of domestic food supply, soy has not reduced the availability of rice, beans and manioc in the country, since production of these crops has actually increased over the last 20 years through a reorganization of cropping patterns and intensification of production (Brown, Rausch, and Luz 2013;Lapola et al 2013). In many regions, soy is double-cropped with another productcorn in the Center-West and wheat, rice and beans in the South.…”

Section: Food Security and Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Green for gold: social and ecological tradeoffs influencing the sustainability of the Brazilian soy industry

Garrett

Rausch

2015

The Journal of Peasant Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study we assess the sustainability of the Brazilian soy industry over the past 40 years in comparison to alternative land uses. We conclude that Brazilian soy production performs as well as or better than sugarcane or cattle production in a number of areas, including macroeconomic contributions, local economic development and land use efficiency, though it involves similar tradeoffs between growth and equity, and food production and conservation. While there is no evidence that soy has reduced food security in Brazil, tax redistributions and value-added activities from soy remain limited, particularly in comparison to sugarcane production. Emerging environmental governance measures have helped to reduce the land cover impacts from soy; however, little effort has been taken to minimize the impacts of intensification.

show abstract

“…In addition, others are concerned that sugarcane production has led to competition with food production and negative land use change impacts, such as loss of biodiversity and deforestation (Dauvergne and Neville, 2010;Novo et al, 2010;Maroun and La Rovere, 2014). Brown et al (2014) addressed the difficulty of tracking shifts in agricultural area dedicated to food versus fuel production in Brazil. Regional hot spots were identified where major shifts toward or away from staple crop may be occurring, but without empirical studies at finer scales, it is difficult to determine to what degree food production is being replaced by sugar cane.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using an analytic hierarchy process approach to prioritize public policies addressing family farming in Brazil

et al. 2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In Brazil, some see intensive, large-scale production of sugarcane-based ethanol, based on a model of capital and land concentration, as a threat to the survival of family farming. Family farmers are increasingly under pressure to sell or rent land to mills where sugarcane monoculture is expanding. In this context, the government is working to formulate or change public policies in order to support farmer livelihoods in sugarcane growing regions. The present study is based on research conducted in the municipality of Ipiranga de Goiás, Goiás State, Brazil. It employs the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method, with participation of stakeholders at federal, state and municipal levels, to support public policy decision-making addressing family farming. The stakeholders prioritize environmental and economic benefits as the most important criteria requiring the attention of policy makers. Also, stakeholders agree that diversification of production is the most appropriate alternative for strengthening family farming. The AHP approach can be the starting point in the formulation of public policies. The approach helps ensure transparency, and it purposefully includes family farmer points of view. Policies derived from this process, therefore, may have a higher likelihood of being supported and accepted by farmers.Keywords: Analytic hierarchy process, Decision-making, Multiple stakeholders, Family farming, Sugarcane. Highlights-We assess policy priorities of family farmers in an area of sugarcane expansion.-We use the analytic hierarchy process with participation of multiple stakeholders.-A case study presents a practical application of the method.-Public policies addressing family farming should focus on diversification of production.-Sensitivity analysis demonstrates robustness of results.

show abstract

Toward a Spatial Understanding of Staple Food and Nonstaple Food Production in Brazil

Cited by 5 publications

References 29 publications

Cropland/pastureland dynamics and the slowdown of deforestation in Latin America

Cropland/pastureland dynamics and the slowdown of deforestation in Latin America

Green for gold: social and ecological tradeoffs influencing the sustainability of the Brazilian soy industry

Using an analytic hierarchy process approach to prioritize public policies addressing family farming in Brazil

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About