Integration of crops with livestock and forests increases in the country

The development of different agricultural activities on the same rural property has been growing in the country and can provide benefits for producers and the environment. The most common is crop-livestock integration (ILP). According to research commissioned by Embrapa in 2016, there were 11,5 million hectares in the country with integrated production systems. Now, the sector estimates, according to informal surveys, that there are already around 15 million hectares with some type of integration strategy throughout Brazil.

In addition to ILP, crop-livestock-forest integration (ILPF) is also expanding, an agricultural strategy combined with forest production. The different types of integration can occur in intercropped cultivation, in planting rotations or succession in the same area, so that there is interaction between the components of the system.

Ciro Magalhães, researcher at Embrapa Agrossilvopastoril, explains that among the main benefits that these systems can bring is the optimization of various production factors. “Integration allows the producer to optimize the use of machines and labor, which would be idle in certain periods when the property only has agriculture, for example. Furthermore, there is an optimization of soil nutrients as well, bringing economic and environmental benefits”, says the researcher.

In the State of Mato Grosso, where Embrapa Agrossilvopastoril is located, and in other border regions with native vegetation, Magalhães highlights that integration also alleviates the pressure to expand agricultural areas, optimizing the land already occupied. According to the researcher, Mato Grosso currently has around 2 million hectares with integrated systems, a growth of more than 30% since the time of the 2016 survey, when it had 1,5 million hectares.

Embrapa Agrossilvopastoril has been carrying out an experiment with different types of integration for eight years in Mato Grosso. “Our experiment is scheduled to last 12 years, when we will have a more complete picture of the efficiency of the different systems, but we already have a lot of data that shows benefits”, he adds.

One of the conclusions already demonstrated, according to Magalhães, is that soybean productivity was not reduced in an experiment in which crops are integrated with livestock. Livestock farming had an increase in productivity of around 30% in the same area in which the producer alternates oilseed production with pasture.

“But it is necessary to have very good management to obtain the benefits. It's not a simple thing. Proper monitoring is necessary”, warns the researcher. In the integration of corn farming with livestock, in the experiment area, there was a slight drop in grain productivity. This does not mean, however, that the producer suffered financial losses, because this drop can be compensated by reducing spending on fertilizers and optimizing resources, or even with gains in livestock farming, for example.

In the case of crop-livestock-forest integration, the researcher adds that, after four years of the experiment, there was a slight drop in soybean productivity, but this could also be more than compensated financially by the sale of wood planted in the middle of the soybean crop. oilseed. According to the researcher, around 90% of integrated systems are ILP, and 6%, ILPF. There is still around 3% of livestock-forest integration (IPF) and less than 1% of crop-forest integration (ILF).

According to the study presented in 2016, the state that had the most type of integration was Mato Grosso do Sul, with 2 million hectares, followed by Mato Grosso, with 1,5 million hectares, at the time, and Rio Grande of the South, with 1,46 million hectares.