Future perspectives of Brazilian beef production? Economic and environmental analysis of three beef production systems in Brazil

Against the backdrop of changing production conditions and market requirements, it seems time has come to rethink Brazil’s beef production systems. We analyse the economic and environmental performance of three beef production systems (classic beef production system (CB), the Integrated Crop-Livestock-Forestry system (ILPF) and the natural regeneration system (NR) in a comparative case study analysis. We find that, though direct costs for CB beef production systems are the lowest, only the ILPF and NR case studies are generating long-term profits. While GHG emissions per kg live weight added are lowest in ILPF, followed by NR and CB, per hectare (ha) emissions are highest in NR, followed by ILPF and CB. Considering the system’s carbon removal, NR and potentially ILPF are sequestering more than releasing. The three production systems perform differently depending on the indicators analysed. How they will reply to future challenges depends on the location and the specific environment.