Version 1
: Received: 16 April 2024 / Approved: 17 April 2024 / Online: 17 April 2024 (08:28:10 CEST)
How to cite:
Abramovay, R.; Matte, A.; Sanseverino, E.C.; Ritt, A.L.; Galiano, M.W. Regenerative Cattle Farming in Latin America and the Caribbean, Far beyond the Oxymoron. Preprints2024, 2024041121. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1121.v1
Abramovay, R.; Matte, A.; Sanseverino, E.C.; Ritt, A.L.; Galiano, M.W. Regenerative Cattle Farming in Latin America and the Caribbean, Far beyond the Oxymoron. Preprints 2024, 2024041121. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1121.v1
Abramovay, R.; Matte, A.; Sanseverino, E.C.; Ritt, A.L.; Galiano, M.W. Regenerative Cattle Farming in Latin America and the Caribbean, Far beyond the Oxymoron. Preprints2024, 2024041121. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1121.v1
APA Style
Abramovay, R., Matte, A., Sanseverino, E.C., Ritt, A.L., & Galiano, M.W. (2024). Regenerative Cattle Farming in Latin America and the Caribbean, Far beyond the Oxymoron. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1121.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Abramovay, R., Adrieli Luisa Ritt and Marina Walder Galiano. 2024 "Regenerative Cattle Farming in Latin America and the Caribbean, Far beyond the Oxymoron" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202404.1121.v1
Abstract
Latin America and the Caribbean offer the most favorable natural and social conditions for the emergence of cattle ranching that regenerate and maintains the ecosystem services on which life on Earth depends, that is energy efficient and that contributes to meeting fundamental human food needs. Unlike other major global producers, cattle farming in Latin America and the Caribbean is fundamentally based on pasture. Therein lies both its strength (due to the regenerative potential of well-managed pastures) and its vulnerability (due to the pervasive link between deforestation and pasture formation, especially in the Amazon, where 40% of the Brazilian herd is concentrated). The diversification of pastures (today marked by impressive monotony, with brachiaria accounting for 85% of the species in Brazil), the introduction of legumes and tree plantations within them, and the proper management of herds, open the way to the possibility of drastically reducing the area currently occupied by the activity (especially in the Amazon) while maintaining the supply of its products. Agricultural research has disseminated forms of moderate intensification of cattle ranching, which represent a low opportunity cost of animal feed and, at the same time, regeneration of ecosystem services that have so far been destroyed by the prevailing methods of farming.
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Sustainable Science and Technology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
