Environmental challenges of pastoral farming systems in tropical areas.
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The need to increase food production has become urgent. Pastoral farming systems based on grasslands in the tropics are essential players in this scenario, considering the surface area and stakeholders they represent. Improving productivity from existing grasslands can be a way forward to produce food, because most of them still produce less than the potential primary and secondary production they could achieve if constraints to pasture and animal growth were surpassed using existing technologies. This potential production could be reached without increasing the surface area used. However, the technologies available to support this intensification process are generally based on an input approach, and are associated with increased use of natural resources and pollution. This classical anthropogenic effect has already been experienced in the temperate grasslands of developed countries, and has raised environmental concerns there. Pastoral farming systems in the tropics seemed to be following the same trend, but are currently being called upon to increase production without such side effects. Dealing with these new environmental drivers and unraveling the production vs. conservation dilemma requires pastoral farming to take a new process-oriented approach. Grassland science is responding to this environmental constraint, and is being asked to build innovative systems devoted to sustainable intensification, at a time when urgency contrasts with a seeming lack of creativity and innovation. Here we explore these issues, focusing on Brazilian pastoral farming trends. This case study is of worldwide interest because of its major place in the global market, and its impact on food security and natural resource conservation in Brazil and elsewhere.
Palabras clave
Serviços ecossistêmicos, Pastagens, Pastoreio, Intensificação sustentável, Sistemas agrícolas pastoris, Sustainable intensification, Ecosystem services, Grasslands, Grazing