Population growth and rising incomes have led to increasing global demand for meat products. Meeting this demand without converting remaining natural ecosystems or further degrading ecosystems is one of the largest global sustainability challenges. A critical step to overcoming this challenge is to increase the productivity of livestock grazing systems, which occupy the largest land area of any type of agriculture globally. Integrated crop−livestock systems (iCL), which re-couple crop and livestock production at the farm scale, have been considered a promising strategy to tackle this challenge by restoring degraded pasturelands and providing supplemental nutrition to livestock. However, few studies have analyzed the economic viability of such systems, especially in Brazil, an important player in global food systems. This paper presents an economic analysis of iCL in Mato Grosso, Brazil, the largest grain and beef producer in the country, which spans the ecologically diverse Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal biomes. We compare the economic performance of an integrated soybean/corn and beef cattle system to a continuous crop (soybean/corn) system and a continuous livestock (beef cattle) production system from 2005 to 2012. We use empirical case study data to characterize a ‘typical’ farm for each production system within the study region. We find that the integrated crop−livestock system has a higher annual net present value (NPV) per hectare (ha) than continuous cropping or livestock under a range of discount rates. However, under a scenario of substantially higher crop prices, the continuous cropping outperforms iCL. While iCL is not feasible in all regions of the Amazon and Cerrado, our results indicate that in places where the biophysical and market conditions are suitable for production, it could be a highly profitable way to intensify cattle production and potentially spare land for other uses, including conservation. Nevertheless, additional credit and technical support may be needed to overcome high upfront costs and informational barriers to increase iCL areas as a sustainable development strategy for agriculture in the Amazon and Cerrado regions.

中文翻译：

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评估巴西马托格罗索州综合农牧系统的经济可行性

人口增长和收入增加导致全球对肉类产品的需求不断增加。在不改变剩余自然生态​​系统或进一步退化生态系统的情况下满足这一需求是全球最大的可持续性挑战之一。克服这一挑战的关键步骤是提高牲畜放牧系统的生产力，该系统在全球任何类型的农业中占据最大的土地面积。通过恢复退化的牧场和为牲畜提供​​补充营养，综合作物-牲畜系统 (iCL) 将农场规模的作物和牲畜生产重新结合起来，被认为是应对这一挑战的有前景的战略。然而，很少有研究分析此类系统的经济可行性，尤其是在巴西，它是全球粮食系统的重要参与者。本文介绍了巴西马托格罗索州 iCL 的经济分析，该国是该国最大的谷物和牛肉生产国，横跨生态多样的亚马逊、塞拉多和潘塔纳尔生物群落。我们将 2005 年至 2012 年的综合大豆/玉米和肉牛系统与连续作物（大豆/玉米）系统和连续牲畜（肉牛）生产系统的经济表现进行了比较。我们使用实证案例研究数据来描述“研究区域内每个生产系统的典型农场。我们发现，在一系列贴现率下，综合作物-畜牧系统每公顷 (ha) 的年净现值 (NPV) 高于连作或畜牧业。然而，在作物价格大幅上涨的情况下，连作的表现优于 iCL。虽然 iCL 并非在亚马逊和塞拉多的所有地区都可行，但我们的结果表明，在生物物理和市场条件适合生产的地方，它可能是一种高利润的方式来加强牛生产并可能腾出土地用于其他用途，包括保护。然而，可能需要额外的信贷和技术支持来克服高昂的前期成本和信息障碍，以增加 iCL 区域作为亚马逊和塞拉多地区农业的可持续发展战略。