Research shows advances in sustainable Brazilian agriculture

Research sponsored by the Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry Systems (ICLFS) Fostering Network, elaborated by the Kleffmann Group with technical support from Embrapa Environment, has demonstrated that the Brazilian agricultural sector has adhered to the use of ICLFS in Brazil.

According to the data, in recent years, considerable increments in ICLFS adoption in Brazil have taken place. Among animal farmers, in the last five years, the increase was 10%. The growth among grain producers can be rounded to 1% for every five years.

Results show a high level of technological adoption with consequent benefits associated with improved efficiency in production systems and their capacity to adapt to possible negative effects of climate change. Through research, it is possible to diagnose the adhesion of Brazilian farmers to sustainable productive intensification with integrated agricultural systems. The advance entails increments to production systems' capacity to adapt to the challenges imposed by climate change, and a boost to biological and economic gains resulting from the increased efficiency in production systems. All these efforts contribute to the achievement of the voluntary commitments that Brazil pledged at the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference COP-15 and revised in Paris at COP-21.

The Brazilian commitment is to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 36.1% to 38.9% by 2020, in comparison with the 2005 emission baseline. The agreement was incorporated into the National Policy on Climate Change (Law no. 12187/2009), through the Sectoral Plans for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.

In the agricultural sector, the commitments were established by the "Sector Plan for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation for the Consolidation of a Low Carbon Economy in Agriculture," also known as ABC Plan from the acronym in Portuguese.