Economic and environmental impacts of integrated systems adoption in Brazilian agriculture-forest frontier

The adoption of sustainable agricultural systems in the Brazilian Cerrado and Amazon is globally relevant, on the one hand due to the amount of commodities produced in these regions, and on the other by the critically important ecosystem services provided by these biomes. We assessed the economic performance of an integrated crop-livestock and an integrated crop-livestock-forest system at farm level comparing their results with the most representative agricultural production systems used in the Cerrado and Amazon, as follows: (i) continuous large-scale crop rotation (soybean-corn), (ii) extensive livestock. Also, we analyzed economic and environmental impacts of integrated systems widespread adoption estimating the results for production volume, gross production value, balance of trade, land-sparing effect and CO2eq sequestration using scenario analysis. The results highlighted the great influence of commodity prices on large-scale crop system and on extensive livestock economic results, particularly, gross profit. In contrast, the integrated systems showed better economic long-term results (i.e. similar payback, even with major investment, and higher profitability index). Also, integrated systems showed lower sensitiveness from commodity prices fluctuation, illustrating their capacity for market risk reduction, and their remarkable potential to increase economy results at regional level. Environmental results demonstrated the integrated systems huge potential for reduce deforestation as well as mitigate CO2eq emissions from agricultural sector, crucial issues for meeting climate commitments and global sustainable development goals. These results are useful for policy-makers and decision-takers to compare alternative farming systems performance in a global hotspot for agricultural commodities production and pressure on natural forest, and can contribute to increase adoption of sustainable agricultural systems in the Brazilian agriculture-forest frontier.