Although pastoral systems make a significant contribution to food security, they are also pointed out as being responsible for substantial environmental impact. Ecological intensification through process- rather than input-based technologies has been proposed as a means to achieve economic, environmental, and social win-win situations. We studied structural diversity, technology adoption, farmer´s strategies, and functional attributes (productivity, reproductive efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, diversification, and self-sufficiency) of pastoral systems in North Patagonia based on interviews of 70 farms with the following objectives: (a) to analyze farm structural characteristics as drivers of technology adoption for ecological intensification, (b) to describe their association with farmers´ livelihood strategies, and (c) to explore trade-offs and synergies among functional attributes. An ongoing ecological intensification was revealed based on the adoption of technologies towards animal´s welfare, survival, and overall systems´ efficiency, on-farm produced feed (self-sufficiency), and product diversification, promoting nutrient re-cycling within farm boundaries. Four farm types were differentiated by their access to information exchange channels, which together with labor characteristics determined technology adoption and farmers´ strategies. The main strategy of family farms that exhibited low to no hired labor, and intermediate to low access to information, was the diversification of products or incomes. Larger farms, with hired labor and access to information exchange channels, had an entrepreneurial strategy towards increasing production efficiencies. Enteric emission intensity per unit product and area exhibited significant trade-offs with meat production (Spearman ρ = 0.87; Y = 0.459 X + 0.352; R² = 0.95), and synergies with reproduction efficiency (Spearman ρ = 0.51; Y = −0.013 X + 1.612; R² = 0.28), respectively. Improving individual animal production instead of per unit area is encouraged to prevent overgrazing and land degradation, searching for win-win’s between emission mitigation and livestock production.

尽管牧区系统对粮食安全做出了重大贡献，但也有人指出它们对环境造成了重大影响。通过基于过程而不是基于投入的技术进行生态集约化已被提议作为实现经济、环境和社会双赢的一种手段。我们基于对 70 个农场的采访，研究了北巴塔哥尼亚牧区系统的结构多样性、技术采用、农民的策略和功能属性（生产力、繁殖效率、温室气体排放、多样化和自给自足），目的如下： (a) 分析作为生态集约化技术采用驱动因素的农场结构特征，(b) 描述它们与农民生计战略的关系，(c) 探索功能属性之间的权衡和协同作用。基于对动物福利、生存和整体系统效率、农场生产的饲料（自给自足）和产品多样化的技术采用，揭示了正在进行的生态集约化，促进了农场边界内的养分循环利用。四种农场类型因其获取信息交换渠道的机会而不同，这与劳动力特征一起决定了技术采用和农民的策略。家庭农场的主要策略是实现产品或收入的多样化，这些农场的雇佣劳动力很少甚至没有雇佣劳动力，信息的获取程度中等。拥有雇佣劳动力和信息交换渠道的较大农场，有提高生产效率的创业战略。² = 0.95)，以及与繁殖效率的协同作用（Spearman ρ = 0.51；Y = -0.013 X + 1.612；R ² = 0.28）。鼓励提高个体动物产量而不是单位面积产量，以防止过度放牧和土地退化，寻求减排和畜牧生产之间的双赢。