Rachael D. Garrett

Globalization’s unexpected impact on soybean production in South America: linkages between preferences for non-genetically modified crops, eco-certifications, and land use

The land use impacts of globalization and of increasing global food and fuel demand depend on the trade relationships that emerge between consuming and producing countries. In the case of soybean production, increasing trade between South American farmers and consumers in Asia and Europe has facilitated soybean expansion in the Amazon, Chaco, and Cerrado biomes. While these telecouplings have been well documented, there is little understanding of how quality preferences influence trade patterns and supply chains, incentivizing or discouraging particular land use practices. In this study we provide empirical evidence that Brazil’s continued production of non-genetically modified (GM) soybeans has increased its competitive advantage in European countries with preferences against GM foods. Brazil’s strong trade relationship with European consumers has facilitated an upgrading of the soybean supply chain. Upgraded soybean supply chains create new conservation opportunities by allowing farmers to differentiate their products based on environmental quality in order to access premiums in niche markets in Europe. These interactions between GM preferences, trade flows, and supply chain structure help to explain why Brazilian soybean farmers have adopted environmental certification programs on a larger scale than Argentinian, Bolivian, Paraguayan, and Uruguayan soybean producers.

Land-use policies and corporate investments in agriculture in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano

Significance A growing global demand for agricultural products such as soybeans and beef is causing agriculture to expand into forest ecosystems. Many countries are tightening environmental regulations as a response. Because agricultural companies can move, there is a risk that stringent land-use regulations might just displace land conversion geographically. A better understanding of how these regulations affect companies’ movements is therefore crucial for designing effective conservation policies. Here we analyze the determinants of siting choices by agricultural companies. We find that companies that tend to clear more forest prefer areas with lower deforestation restrictions, and that all companies prefer areas with low enforcement. However, these effects are less important than the availability of forestland or the proximity to current investments. Growing demand for agricultural commodities is causing the expansion of agricultural frontiers onto native vegetation worldwide. Agribusiness companies linking these frontiers to distant spaces of consumption through global commodity chains increasingly make zero-deforestation pledges. However, production and land conversion are often carried out by less-visible local and regional actors that are mobile and responsive to new agricultural expansion opportunities and legal constraints on land use. With more stringent deforestation regulations in some countries, we ask whether their movements are determined partly by differences in land-use policies, resulting in “deforestation havens.” We analyze the determinants of investment decisions by agricultural companies in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano, a region that has become the new deforestation “hot spot” in South America. We test whether companies seek out less-regulated forest areas for new agricultural investments. Based on interviews with 82 companies totaling 2.5 Mha of properties, we show that, in addition to proximity to current investments and the availability of cheap forestland, lower deforestation regulations attract investments by companies that tend to clear more forest, mostly cattle ranching operations, and that lower enforcement attracts all companies. Avoiding deforestation leakage requires harmonizing deforestation regulations across regions and commodities and promoting sustainable intensification in cattle ranching.

Assessing the potential additionality of certification by the Round table on Responsible Soybeans and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil

Commodity crop expansion has increased with the globalization of production systems and consumer demand, linking distant socio-ecological systems. Oil palm plantations are expanding in the tropics to satisfy growing oilseed and biofuel markets, and much of this expansion has caused extensive deforestation, especially in Asia. In Latin America, palm oil output has doubled since 2001, and the majority of expansion seems to be occurring on non-forested lands. We used MODIS satellite imagery (250 m resolution) to map current oil palm plantations in Latin America and determined prior land use and land cover (LULC) using high-resolution images in Google Earth. In addition, we compiled trade data to determine where Latin American palm oil flows, in order to better understand the underlying drivers of expansion in the region. Based on a sample of 342 032 ha of oil palm plantations across Latin America, we found that 79% replaced previously intervened lands (e.g. pastures, croplands, bananas), primarily cattle pastures (56%). The remaining 21% came from areas that were classified as woody vegetation (e.g. forests), most notably in the Amazon and the Petén region in northern Guatemala. Latin America is a net exporter of palm oil but the majority of palm oil exports (70%) stayed within the region, with Mexico importing about half. Growth of the oil palm sector may be driven by global factors, but environmental and economic outcomes vary between regions (i.e. Asia and Latin America), within regions (i.e. Colombia and Peru), and within single countries (i.e. Guatemala), suggesting that local conditions are influential. The present trend of oil palm expanding onto previously cleared lands, guided by roundtable certifications programs, provides an opportunity for more sustainable development of the oil palm sector in Latin America.

Explaining the persistence of low income and environmentally degrading land uses in the Brazilian Amazon

Tropical forests continue to be plagued by the dual sustainability challenges of deforestation and rural poverty. We seek to understand why many of the farmers living in the Brazilian Amazon, home to the world’s largest tropical agricultural-forest frontier, persist in agricultural activities associated with low incomes and high environmental damage. To answer this question, we assess the factors that shape the development and distribution of agricultural activities and farmer well-being in these frontiers. Our study utilizes a uniquely comprehensive social-ecological dataset from two regions in the eastern Brazilian Amazon and employs a novel conceptual framework that highlights the interdependencies between household attributes, agricultural activities, and well-being. We find that livestock production, which yields the lowest per hectare incomes, remains the most prevalent land use in remote areas, but many examples of high income fruit, horticulture, and staple crop production exist on small properties, particularly in peri-urban areas. The transition to more profitable land uses is limited by lagging supply chain infrastructure, social preferences, and the fact that income associated with land use activities is not a primary source of perceived life quality. Instead subjective well-being is more heavily influenced by the nonmonetary attributes of a rural lifestyle (safety, tranquility, community relations, etc.). We conclude that transitions away from low-income land uses in agricultural-forest frontiers of the Brazilian Amazon need not abandon a land-focused vision of development, but will require policies and programs that identify and discriminate households based on a broader set of household assets, cultural attributes, and aspirations than are traditionally applied. At a broader scale, access to distant markets for high value crops must be improved via investments in processing, storage, and marketing infrastructure.

Brazilian soya: the argument for

Several journals are already making anonymized reviewers’ reports public for published papers, as Daniel Mietchen proposes (Nature 473, 452; 2011). These include Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (see go.nature.com/qamrfc) and The EMBO Journal (see Nature 468, 29–31; 2010). But at the European Molecular Biology Organization, we do not see an equitable way to publish referee reports on rejected manuscripts. Instead, we favour the transfer between journals of rejected manuscripts, along with full referee reports that could be made public after acceptance of the paper. An extension of this might be to release referee names after several years, or to sign the reports with anonymized digital identifiers that could be read by official bodies to help evaluate academic performance. Bernd Pulverer The EMBO Journal, European Molecular Biology Organization, Germany. bernd.pulverer@embo.org Competing interests declared (see go.nature.com/witfzb). Brazilian soya: the argument for

Ecological and economic benefits of integrating sheep into viticulture production

The integration of crop and livestock systems has been recognized for its potential to reduce the environmental impacts associated with agriculture and improve farmer livelihoods. However, to date, most research has focused on the integration of cattle into crop and pasture systems. Here, we examine the integration of sheep into vineyards and assess farmers’ perceived benefits and costs of the practice. Viticulture expansion has led to significant land use change in recent years and new environmental challenges, particularly with respect to herbicide use. Sheep integration into vineyards offers the potential to utilize the synergies of both systems to reduce external inputs, promote soil health, and increase farmer profit. Our study focuses in New Zealand, the world’s 15th largest wine producer, particularly in Marlborough, which produces 75% of the country’s wine. As a result, the case study is an excellent representation of New Zealand viticulture, while also providing unique insights into a novel practice. Using a semi-structured interview and survey, we interviewed fifteen farmers representing 5% of total New Zealand wine production to examine ecological and economic benefits of sheep integration in viticulture systems. We find that seasonal integration of sheep during vine dormancy is common, while integration during the growing season is rare. Overall, farmers perceive significantly more benefits than challenges with the integration of sheep into vineyards, particularly reduced mowing (100% of farmers) and herbicide use (66% of farmers). On average, farmers reported 1.3 fewer herbicide applications annually, saving US

Reply to Levine-Schnur: Decisions to deforest illegally are influenced by fines and their perceived enforcement probability

56 per hectare. As well, farmers indicated they were doing 2.2 fewer mows annually saving US

Sugar and ethanol production as a rural development strategy in Brazil: Evidence from the state of São Paulo

64 per hectare. These results suggest that wide-scale adoption of seasonal integration of sheep and viticulture can provide large ecological benefits and higher profitability vis-à-vis conventional viticulture practices; however, further integration of the two systems may provide even greater benefits not currently realized.

Land institutions and supply chain configurations as determinants of soybean planted area and yields in Brazil

We thank Ronit Levine-Schnur for the interest she took in our paper and for taking the time to suggest improvements to the methods (1). Finding ways to accurately measure enforcement is an important challenge for sustainability research, and especially so for research conducted in data-poor environments such as the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano region, where government institutions themselves sometimes lack proper data on illegal deforestation and fines. Borner et al. (2) applied previous economic theorizations about optimal law enforcement to the context of illegal … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: elambin{at}stanford.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1