Between 1990 and 2019, improvements in livestock productivity prevented 270 million hectares of forest from being cut down and still returned 30 million hectares for other activities or plant regeneration



The public and economic health crisis caused by the pandemic has brought agribusiness into focus.



But, in Brazil's case, society remains a gift of political crisis prepared by the elected classes that lead the country's government.



Amid the confusion of information and polarisation, and because of the risk that Minister Tereza Cristina, whose good performance is virtually the consensus of all agribusiness professionals, called on several leaders to talk about what has been achieved in this area in recent years. And a lot of it.



Across a variety of available information bases, in 2018 Athenagro released its first official updated annual data, which is updated annually.



In 2003, the total area of livestock and agricultural land (ranging from vegetables to afforestation) totalled 248.4 million hectares.



That year 610 million tons of vegetables and 40.2 million tons of forest products were produced. Animal origin.



In 2019, Brazilians used 240.8 million hectares of land for all activities. However, vegetable production was 1.1 billion tons and animal production was 66.5 million tons. Over 16 years, animal and plant yields increased by 81% and 66%, respectively. Total agricultural production fell by 7.6%.



Ranchers and farmers used about 2.6 tonnes of produce per hectare in 2003, compared with 4.9 tonnes per hectare last year, an 86% improvement in performance per hectare. With increased productivity, soil quality has improved as a result of better conservation practices and cultural treatment.





Critics' sensational claims about the use of pesticides and fertilizers were welcomed by the public. The responsible use of these products is precisely where such properties are obtained with the use of soil and water. If they don't speak well, then production and production will not increase because plants and animals are living things and, like humans, they will suffer from this "poisoning" while these people are being touted around by incomprehensible slogans.



The increase in productivity is not linear because of the performance of each crop. To analyze culture, all activities need to be evaluated separately. Beef cattle productivity, for example, rose 55 per cent between 2003 and 2019.



Changes in land use are one of the factors that explain the field's performance in this regard. On average, a beef cattle area produces about 65 kg of of annually. Even taking into account the average productivity of the livestock assembly sample (an annual visit to producers throughout Brazil), the productivity will reach 190 kg/ha, a maximum of nearly 1 tonne per hectare. When the region is replanted with soybeans, the amount of grain cleared from the region can easily reach 3 tons per hectare. If the second maize is still sown, the yield per hectare will be between 9 and 10 tonnes. The same can be said for sugar cane, eucalyptus trees and other crops grown in pastures.



Just to avoid confusion with the use of this analysis: as far as human needs are concerned, it is clear that the nutrient density and quality of food ingredients are not taken into account. Even when crude proteins in plant cultures are compared with animal proteins, the quality of amino acid composition from both sources is not considered. Such inadequate comparisons can be attributed to malice or ignorance. It is not the subject of this article, but in no case can plant proteins replace animal source proteins in the same proportion of nutrients.





Back to the reasoning, during this period agricultural acreage increased by about 14 million hectares and total pasture land decreased by nearly 22 million hectares. Even when deforestation is taken into account, the amount of land transferred to agriculture plus the amount lost to invasive plants is enough to show a decline in Brazil's arable land, according to official ranching data from the INPE/Prodes survey.



This progress has been made possible by increased technical contributions to meat production, which have not been well distributed among all producers. The more agile ranchers improved their production systems, made bigger profits and scaled up as productivity increased. On the other hand, inefficient farms, large and small, will lose part of their pasture, both in agriculture and at the beginning of a natural vegetation recombination process.



Between 2003 and 2019, 2.2 hectares of pasture were transferred to agriculture for every hectare of forest felled, according to official figures. For each hectare of forest cut down, the regeneration process begins at 1.3 hectares. The shift to agriculture intensified in the 2000s, when nearly 80 percent of the entire conversion area was concentrated.



To look at the longer term, the total amount of deforestation since 1990 was 40.7 million hectares.

17.5 million hectares of land have been transferred to agriculture, and another 53 million hectares of pasture have been lost due to degradation, thus beginning the regeneration of natural vegetation.



Those who argue that this dynamic reduces the importance of livestock are wrong. An analysis of the history of internal development leads to the conclusion that pasture acreage is destined to be replaced by other activities, as minimum conditions are reaching the most remote areas of the great centre. Whether on demand or based on infrastructure, it is always expected that pastures will make room for agricultural crops.



Livestock has never been, nor is it, an agent of deforestation, but a consequence of it. This is the most suitable activity for areas without any infrastructure.





Some people analyze production on the basis of past indicators, regardless of technological progress. If the assumptions of these analyses are correct, Brazil's livestock will now have to occupy 430m hectares.

The calculations are based on 1990 levels of technology and current meat production.



Increasing the balance between deforestation and area in the process of restoration and transfer to agriculture could link livestock development to the 300 million hectares of protected areas in the last 30 years.



In addition to meat production and all the economic and social progress, Livestock in Brazil protects an average of 10 million hectares of land per year.




Pulled and coordinated by Mauricio Palmano-Guera, agronomist and director Athenagro