Resumo: Cattle raising is carried out in around 75% of Brazilian agricultural properties. The importance of beef cattle production in Brazil is evidenced by its share in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2013, its participation in the agribusiness GDP was 39.94%. Changes in the demand for beef cattle have been driven by the human population growth rate, income growth, and urbanization. The response of the different livestock systems has been the incorporation of science and technology and the consequent increase of productive indexes. On the other hand, livestock production is likely to be increasingly affected by policies related to the mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, i.e the ?decarbonization? of livestock systems, besides the animal welfare legislation and other environmental constraints (Thornton, 2010). Two types of efficiency may be identified in a production system: technical and economical (Ferreira & Gomes, 2009). One production system may be considered technically efficient if no other system is able to achieve the same level of production by using less quantity of at least one input. Economic efficiency is achieved if there is no other alternative production system that produces the same amount at a lower cost or with a higher profit margin. This paper aims at evaluating the efficiency of beef cattle productive systems in the Cerrado, Pampa and Pantanal biomes, regarding their emissions intensity (CO2 equivalent per kilogram of carcass weight produced).

Ano de publicação: 2016

Tipo de publicação: Artigo em anais e proceedings

Unidade: Embrapa Pantanal