Land use change, agricultural intensification and low-carbon agricultural practices in Mato Grosso, Brazil

The process of land use change in Brazil has implications for food security, climate change and socioeconomic development at the local, regional and global levels. Largely driven by agricultural expansion over the past decades, such processes are likely to become even more pronounced in the coming years as Brazil is expected to satisfy a significant share of the global demand for food and energy. In an effort to prevent further forest clearance and associated greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, the Brazilian Federal Government has been promoting agricultural intensification through farming practices able to increase crop and livestock productivity while restoring degraded lands. Particular attention has been dedicated to the beef cattle sector in Mato Grosso state, a globally important center of agricultural production in Southern Amazonia, where some of the highest crop productivity levels contrast with pastures of low average stocking rates. Two agricultural intensification strategies of growing importance in Mato Grosso are pasture to crop conversion (P2C) and integrated crop-livestock-forest systems (IS). While the first is a consequence of cropland expansion on pastures and might continue to happen through expected shifts in the relative profitability of certain commodities, the second entails the adoption of complex management practices and may be conditional on incentives and the existence of a favorable institutional context. Even though the Federal Government has already established policies and programs to promote P2C and IS and relies on both to reduce its total GHG emissions, the level of IS adoption remains low and many aspects of P2C and IS including the drivers, barriers and impacts associated to their adoption are poorly understood. This thesis sheds light on some of these uncertainties, elucidating where, how and why P2C and IS happen. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods such as surveys, focus groups, remote sensing, spatial econometrics and agent-based modeling, it seeks a better understanding of the interplay between farmers characteristics and preferences, supply chain infrastructure, market conditions and institutional factors, as well as how these may constrain or catalyze specific LUC pathways. Based on these findings, it ultimately compares the impacts of P2C and IS and concludes that the latter may offer greater benefits. The Introduction contextualizes the research questions explored in the subsequent chapters by offering an overview of land use change in Brazil and briefly reviewing the literature on agricultural intensification. The following chapters (2, 3, 4 and 5) form the core of the thesis and correspond to scientific publications developed during the Ph.D. program, all focused on Mato Grosso. Results are analyzed in an integrated manner under Discussion & Conclusion in light of the broader implications of agricultural intensification through P2C and IS, finally leading to policy recommendations. Chapter 2 quantifies P2C and investigates its drivers, revealing that: i) cattle vs. soy profitability and land prices do not fully explain P2C location; ii) land attributes on which classical agricultural development theories are based, may favour P2C but do not fully explain it; and iii) socioeconomic and institutional constraints are important in controlling pasture conversion, including non-productive sources of utility, producers perception of contract enforcement, land markets and P2C-related transaction costs. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 are dedicated to IS. Chapter 3 reveals the state-of-the-art of IS and how farmers perceive it, showing that: i) IS were concentrated in less than a third of the counties of Mato Grosso state most of which were crop-livestock systems (iCL); ii) producers usually adopted one of three iCL strategies; and iii) the strategy choice was correlated with the land use transition undergone by each producer. Building on these findings, chapter 4 examines the determinants of wide-scale IS adoption and assesses the importance of household- and county-level variables, revealing that: i) adopters of iCL systems are better educated and have more access to technical assistance than specialized producers; ii) greater similarity exists between counties with iCL systems and soy-dominant vs. pasture-dominant counties; and iii) the presence of soy and pasture in a county is not a predictor of the occurrence of iCL systems. Finally, chapter 5 employs a bio-economic model that assesses how effective credit provision is in supporting the adoption of low-carbon systems specifically IS and planted forests. The model simulates future land use changes in Mato Grosso under different credit scenarios and suggests that: i) credit has the potential to prompt greater adoption of IS; and ii) changes in the credit conditions (e.g. interest rates, down payment share and capital requirements) influence rates of IS adoption differently. Most existing studies on land use change in Brazil are limited to the debate between intensification vs. extensification and tend to project the effects of intensification at an aggregate level, overlooking the different drivers and impacts of specific intensification pathways. By exploring the particularities of IS and P2C, this work offers evidence that these are two distinct intensification strategies with widely different impacts and, thus, should not be treated indistinguishably by policy makers. The merit of this thesis relies not only on its innovative theoretical approach, but also on its multidisciplinary and multi-scale nature. Through the mapping, measurement, description and interpretation of IS and P2C, it provides results able to inform policy making, facilitate the monitoring of existing policies and set the ground for subsequent research.O processo de mudança do uso da terra no Brasil tem implicações para a segurança alimentar, as mudanças climáticas e o desenvolvimento socioeconômico nos níveis local, regional e global. Impulsionado pela expansão agrícola das últimas décadas, tal processo deverá se acentuar nos próximos anos tendo em vista a expectativa de que o Brasil satisfaça uma parte significativa da demanda global por alimentos e energia. Em um esforço para evitar desmatamento e emissões de gas de efeito estufa (GEE), o Governo Federal tem promovido intensificação agropecuária através de práticas de manejo capazes de aumentar a produtividade e ao mesmo tempo restaurar terras degradadas. Particular atenção tem sido dedicada à pecuária de corte no estado do Mato Grosso (MT), localizado no sul da Amazônia, onde alguns dos mais altos níveis de produtividade agrícola contrastam com pastagens de taxas de lotação médias extremamente baixas. Duas estratégias de intensificação agrícola de importância crescente no MT são a conversão de pastagem em lavoura (P2C) e a integração lavoura-pecuária-floresta (ILPF). Enquanto a primeira é consequência da expansão de terras agrícolas em pastagens e deverá continuar em função de mudanças na rentabilidade relativa de determinadas commodities agrícolas, a segunda implica a adoção de práticas de manejo complexas (o que demanda incentivos e condições institucionais favoráveis). Apesar do lançamento de políticas voltadas à promoção de P2C e ILPF e do estabelecimento de metas de redução de GEE estabelecidas pelo governo, a extensão da ILPF no estado permanece baixa. Além disso, os impactos socioeconomicos e ambientais potencialmente associados a P2C e ILPF ainda são pouco compreendidos. Esta tese procura elucidar algumas dessas incertezas, includindo onde, como e porque P2C e IS acontecem. Combinando métodos de pesquisa qualitativos e quantitativos (e.g. entrevistas, grupos de foco, sensoriamento remoto, econometria espacial e modelagem baseada em agentes), esta tese busca facilitar a compreensão da interação entre as características dos produtores rurais, suas preferências pessoais, infra-estrutura da cadeia produtiva, variações de mercado e condições institucionais. A forma como tais fatores podem catalisar ou inibir mudanças de uso da terra específicas também é objeto de estudo. A comparação entre P2C e ILPF revela que a ILPF oferece maiores benefícios. A Introdução contextualiza as questões de pesquisa exploradas nos capítulos subsequentes, oferecendo uma visão geral de mudança no uso da terra no Brasil e uma breve revisão da literatura sobre intensificação agropecuária. Os capítulos seguintes (2, 3, 4 e 5) formam o núcleo da tese e correspondem às publicações científicas desenvolvidas durante o programa de Ph.D., todas focadas no MT. Os resultados de cada capítulo são analisados de forma integrada em Discussão & Conclusão, à luz das implicações mais amplas da intensificação agropecuária através de P2C ou ILPF. Recomendações relevantes à formulação de políticas públicas são apresentadas no final. O Capítulo 2 quantifica P2C e investiga seus determinantes, revelando que: i) rentabilidade de soja e gado sempre explicam a ocorrência de P2C; ii) fatores de decisão em que se baseiam as teorias de desenvolvimento agrícola clássicas muitas vezes favorecem o processo de P2C mas não o explicam totalmente; e iii) condições socioeconômicas e institucionais co-determinam a conversão de pastagens, incluindo outras fontes de utilidade que não rentabilidade, percepção de risco e cumprimento de contratos, funcionamento do mercados de terras, bem como custos de transação associados à P2C. Os Capítulos 3, 4 e 5 são dedicados à ILPF. O Capítulo 3 revela o estado-da-arte da ILPF e como os agricultores percebem, mostrando que: i) sistems de ILPF concentram-se em menos de um terço dos municípios do MT a maior parte deles sendo apenas lavoura-pecuária (ICL); ii) três estratégias de ICL são mais comuns entre produtores; e iii) a escolha de estratégia é correlacionada com a transição do uso da terra por cada produtor. Com base nestas constatações, o Capítulo 4 analisa os determinantes da adoção de ICL em larga escala e avalia a importância de características individuais e regionais para tal. Conclui-se que: i) o nível de instrução médio e o acesso à assistência técnica são maiores entre produtores com ICL; ii) existe uma maior semelhança entre municípios com ICL e aqueles dominados por soja do que por pasto; e iii) a presença de soja e de pasto em um município não necessariamente prediz a ocorrência de ICL. Finalmente, o Capítulo 5 emprega um modelo bio-econômico para avaliar a influência de crédito sobre a adoção de práticas de baixo carbono - especificamente ILPF e plantio comercial de florestas. O modelo simula mudanças futuras de uso da terra no MT sob diferentes cenários, sugerindo que: i) crédito pode estimular a adoção de ILPF; e ii) mudanças nas condições de crédito (e.g. taxas de juros) são importantes. A maioria dos estudos sobre a mudança no uso da terra no Brasil é limitada ao debate entre intensificação vs. extensificação e tende a projetar os efeitos da intensificação em nível agregado, ignorando os diferentes impactos que vias de intensificação específicas podem ter. Ao explorar as particularidades da ILPF e da P2C, este trabalho mostra que essas são estratégias de intensificação distintas com impactos igualmente distintos e que, portanto, não devem ser tratados indistintamente por formuladores de políticas públicas. O mérito desta tese baseia-se não só na sua abordagem teórica inovadora, mas sobretudo na sua natureza multidisciplinar e multiescalar. O mapeamento, a medição, a descrição e a interpretação de ILPF e P2C oferecem informações inéditas, facilitam o acompanhamento das políticas existentes e criam as bases para investigações subsequentes

Sustainable development goal 2: improved targets and indicators for agriculture and food security

The pursuit of global food security and agricultural sustainability, the dual aim of the second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-2), requires urgent and concerted action from developing and developed countries. This, in turn, depends on clear and universally applicable targets and indicators which are partially lacking. The novel and complex nature of the SDGs poses further challenges to their implementation on the ground, especially in the face of interlinkages across SDG objectives and scales. Here we review the existing SDG-2 indicators, propose improvements to facilitate their operationalization and illustrate their practical implementation in Nigeria, Brazil and the Netherlands. This exercise provides insights into the concrete actions needed to achieve SDG-2 across contrasting development contexts and highlights the challenges of addressing the links between targets and indicators within and beyond SDG-2. Ultimately, it underscores the need for integrated policies and reveals opportunities to leverage the fulfillment of SDG-2 worldwide

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Search for anomalous production of events with three or more leptons in pp collisions at √s = 8TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.A search for physics beyond the standard model in events with at least three leptons is presented. The data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5fb-1 of proton-proton collisions with center-of-mass energy s=8TeV, was collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC during 2012. The data are divided into exclusive categories based on the number of leptons and their flavor, the presence or absence of an opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pair (OSSF), the invariant mass of the OSSF pair, the presence or absence of a tagged bottom-quark jet, the number of identified hadronically decaying τ leptons, and the magnitude of the missing transverse energy and of the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta. The numbers of observed events are found to be consistent with the expected numbers from standard model processes, and limits are placed on new-physics scenarios that yield multilepton final states. In particular, scenarios that predict Higgs boson production in the context of supersymmetric decay chains are examined. We also place a 95% confidence level upper limit of 1.3% on the branching fraction for the decay of a top quark to a charm quark and a Higgs boson (t→cH), which translates to a bound on the left- and right-handed top-charm flavor-violating Higgs Yukawa couplings, λtcH and λctH, respectively, of |λtcH|2+|λctH|2<0.21

Measurement of associated W plus charm production in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Peer reviewe

Determinants of crop-livestock integration in Brazil : Evidence from the household and regional levels

Integrated crop-livestock systems (iCL) are advocated as a promising strategy to increase agricultural production and rehabilitate degraded pastures while mitigating GHG emissions. Although iCL in Brazil has increased over the past few years, it still occupies a small share of the country's total agricultural area. We investigate the determinants of iCL occurrence in Mato Grosso state, a globally important producer of beef cattle and grains that has experienced rapid land cover change and environmental degradation in recent decades. Our analysis encompasses two typical cases of iCL in Mato Grosso (the rotation of soy followed by pasture, and soy followed by maize and pasture) as well as biophysical, socioeconomic, and institutional factors observable at the household and/or municipality levels that may influence the wide-scale occurrence of iCL. Evidence at both scales suggests that knowledge and supply chain infrastructure play an important role in early occurrence of iCL, as they are more common in regions closer to iCL research stations and processing facilities of grains and cattle. On average iCL adopters are more educated and have better access to technical assistance and sector information than specialized farmers or ranchers. Most iCLs are concentrated near established soy areas and greater similarity exists between municipalities with iCL and soy-dominant municipalities vs. pasture-dominant municipalities. Our findings reveal the importance of specific conditions for iCL occurrence and iCL promotion in livestock-dominant regions. Incentives targeted at ranchers are crucial for the achievement of the Brazilian Government's goal to restore degraded pastures through agricultural intensification.</p