IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v13y2024i2p200-d1334741.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Potential for Agricultural Expansion in Degraded Pasture Lands in Brazil Based on Geospatial Databases

Author

Listed:
  • Édson Luis Bolfe

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa Agricultura Digital), Campinas 13083-886, Brazil
    Institute of Geosciences, State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas 13083-855, Brazil)

  • Daniel de Castro Victoria

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa Agricultura Digital), Campinas 13083-886, Brazil)

  • Edson Eyji Sano

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa Cerrados), Planaltina 73301-970, Brazil)

  • Gustavo Bayma

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa Meio Ambiente), Jaguariúna 13820-000, Brazil)

  • Silvia Maria Fonseca Silveira Massruhá

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa Sede), Brasília 70770-901, Brazil)

  • Aryeverton Fortes de Oliveira

    (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa Agricultura Digital), Campinas 13083-886, Brazil)

Abstract

Important public and private initiatives to map agricultural lands and natural resources have been carried out in Brazil to support land use planning. Some studies indicate that Brazil still has up to 109.7 million hectares of cultivated pastures with some level of degradation, representing around 60% of the total pasturelands, estimated at 177 million hectares. This study aimed to gather, process, and analyze publicly available databases to generate quantitative and spatial information about the potential of Brazilian degraded pastures for agricultural expansion. We considered data related to the natural agricultural potential, restrictions imposed by special areas (indigenous lands and Afro-Brazilian “quilombola” settlements), areas with high biodiversity conservation priorities, infrastructure such as distance between major highways and availability of warehouses, current agricultural areas, and the information made available by Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning. The results indicated the existence of approximately 28 million hectares of planted pastures with intermediate and severe levels of degradation that show high potential for agricultural crops. These areas could increase the planted areas with grains in Brazil by approximately 35% in relation to the total area used in the 2022/23 crop season.

Suggested Citation

  • Édson Luis Bolfe & Daniel de Castro Victoria & Edson Eyji Sano & Gustavo Bayma & Silvia Maria Fonseca Silveira Massruhá & Aryeverton Fortes de Oliveira, 2024. "Potential for Agricultural Expansion in Degraded Pasture Lands in Brazil Based on Geospatial Databases," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-17, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:2:p:200-:d:1334741
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/2/200/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/2/200/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lindsey L. Sloat & James S. Gerber & Leah H. Samberg & William K. Smith & Mario Herrero & Laerte G. Ferreira & Cécile M. Godde & Paul C. West, 2018. "Increasing importance of precipitation variability on global livestock grazing lands," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(3), pages 214-218, March.
    2. Luana Molossi & Aaron Kinyu Hoshide & Daniel Carneiro de Abreu & Ronaldo Alves de Oliveira, 2023. "Agricultural Support and Public Policies Improving Sustainability in Brazil’s Beef Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Edson Eyji Sano & Édson Luis Bolfe & Taya Cristo Parreiras & Giovana Maranhão Bettiol & Luiz Eduardo Vicente & Ieda Del′Arco Sanches & Daniel de Castro Victoria, 2023. "Estimating Double Cropping Plantations in the Brazilian Cerrado through PlanetScope Monthly Mosaics," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-19, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elvira Díaz-Pereira & Asunción Romero-Díaz & Joris Vente, 2020. "Sustainable grazing land management to protect ecosystem services," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 1461-1479, December.
    2. Fan Yang & Quanqin Shao & Zhigang Jiang, 2019. "A Population Census of Large Herbivores Based on UAV and Its Effects on Grazing Pressure in the Yellow-River-Source National Park, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-20, November.
    3. Aaron Kinyu Hoshide, 2023. "Sustainable Development Agricultural Economics and Policy: Intensification versus Diversification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-4, June.
    4. Veronica Garcia Donoso & Mayumi C. M. Hirye & Christiane Gerwenat & Christa Reicher, 2024. "Amazon Deforestation and Global Meat Consumption Trends: An Assessment of Land Use Change and Market Data from Rondônia That Shows Why We Should Consider Changing Our Diets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-15, May.
    5. Fust, Pascal & Schlecht, Eva, 2022. "Importance of timing: Vulnerability of semi-arid rangeland systems to increased variability in temporal distribution of rainfall events as predicted by future climate change," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 468(C).
    6. Zheng Fu & Philippe Ciais & Jean-Pierre Wigneron & Pierre Gentine & Andrew F. Feldman & David Makowski & Nicolas Viovy & Armen R. Kemanian & Daniel S. Goll & Paul C. Stoy & Iain Colin Prentice & Dan Y, 2024. "Global critical soil moisture thresholds of plant water stress," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Tiago G. Morais & Ricardo F. M. Teixeira & Nuno R. Rodrigues & Tiago Domingos, 2018. "Characterizing Livestock Production in Portuguese Sown Rainfed Grasslands: Applying the Inverse Approach to a Process-Based Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, November.
    8. Wu, Bingfang & Fu, Zhijun & Fu, Bojie & Yan, Changzhen & Zeng, Hongwei & Zhao, Wenwu, 2024. "Dynamics of land cover changes and driving forces in China’s drylands since the 1970 s," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    9. Maristela M. Martins & Humberto F. S. Spolador & Eric Njuki, 2022. "Production environment and managerial techniques in explaining productivity growth in Brazilian beef cattle production," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(2), pages 371-385, April.
    10. Junting Guo & Quansheng Li & Huizhen Xie & Jun Li & Linwei Qiao & Chengye Zhang & Guozhu Yang & Fei Wang, 2022. "Monitoring of Vegetation Disturbance and Restoration at the Dumping Sites of the Baorixile Open-Pit Mine Based on the LandTrendr Algorithm," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-15, July.
    11. Marcelo Werneck Barbosa, 2024. "Government Support Mechanisms for Sustainable Agriculture: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-17, March.
    12. Virginia Anne Kowal & Julian Ahlborn & Chantsallkham Jamsranjav & Otgonsuren Avirmed & Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, 2021. "Modeling Integrated Impacts of Climate Change and Grazing on Mongolia’s Rangelands," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-28, April.
    13. Marina Moura Morales & Hélio Tonini & Maurel Behling & Aaron Kinyu Hoshide, 2023. "Eucalyptus Carbon Stock Research in an Integrated Livestock-Forestry System in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-16, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:2:p:200-:d:1334741. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.