LAND-USE INTENSIFICATION TRENDS IN THE RIO DE LA PLATA REGION OF SOUTH AMERICA: TOWARD SPECIALIZATION OR RECOUPLING CROP AND LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION

DE FACCIO CARVALHO, PAULO CÉSAR; SAVIAN, JEAN VÍCTOR; CHIESA, TOMAS DELLA; SOUZA FILHO, WILLIAM DE; TERRA, JOSÉ ALFREDO; PINTO, PRISCILA; MARTINS, AMANDA POSSELT; VILLARINO, SEBASTIAN; DA TRINDADE, JÚLIO KUHN; DE ALBUQUERQUE NUNES, PEDRO ARTHUR; PIÑEIRO, GERVASIO

Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering

HEP Higher education Press

Año: 2021 vol. 8

2095-7505

The Rio de la Plata region comprises central Argentina, Uruguay, and southernBrazil. Modern agriculture developed around 1900 with recent decades beingcharacterized by the advance of cropping areas over native grasslands. Highlyspecialized agriculture has decoupled crop and livestock production but hassucceeded in intensifying yields. However, significant losses of ecosystemservices have been reported. Thus, questions have been raised on thesustainability of this pathway. A glance at world regions that have experiencedsimilar trends suggests that an urgent course correction is needed. A majorconcern has been the lack of diversity in regions with highly specializedagriculture, promoting renewed interest in integrated crop-livestock systems(ICLS), not only because ICLS are more diverse than specialized systems, but alsobecause they are rare examples of reconciliation between agroecosystemintensification and environmental quality. Consequently, this paper discussesalternatives to redesign multifunctional landscapes based on ICLS. Recent dataprovide evidence that recoupling crop and animal production increases theresilience of nutrient cycling functions and economic indicators to externalstressors, enabling these systems to face climate-market uncertainty andreconcile food production with the provision of diverse ecosystem services.Finally, these concepts are exemplified in case studies where this perspective hasbeen successfully applied.