{"id":219803,"date":"2016-06-29T16:29:20","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T19:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/?p=219803"},"modified":"2016-06-29T16:29:20","modified_gmt":"2016-06-29T19:29:20","slug":"ranchers-and-environmentalists-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/ranchers-and-environmentalists-united\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranchers and environmentalists united"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Black-chested

Fabio Colombini<\/span>Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, one of the bird species found in the southern grasslandsFabio Colombini<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

In April 2016, supermarkets in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul are expected to receive the first shipment of beef from cattle raised on native grasslands, a vegetation type typical of the South. This comes as the fruit of 12 years of negotiations, discussions and alliances between environmentalists and cattlemen, united around a strategy\u2014successful to date\u2014aimed at both preservation and economic utilization of native vegetation and its associated biodiversity. Cattle ranching on native grasslands is a production method that promotes preservation of the original environment, which otherwise might have been converted for farming or pastures dominated by exotic grass species such as signalgrass.<\/p>\n

Although the strategy is limited to Rio Grande do Sul and is small in scale, given the 212 million head of cattle in Brazil, producers expect it to yield higher-quality, better-tasting beef with less fat, because of the varied diet that the animals can enjoy. The southern grasslands are home to 450 identified species of native grasses, such as bahiagrass, carpetgrass, threeawn grass and speargrass\u2014a diversity greater than that found in other environments. The grasslands of the Cerrado savannah, for example, host about 100 native grass species, most of which have low nutritional value. By the end of 2015, 50,000 bulls and cows had been raised on 8,000 square kilometers (km2<\/sup>) of preserved grasslands, on 110 farms in Rio Grande do Sul that have been certified by the Alianza del Pastizal (Grasslands Alliance), a producers\u2019 association established by the Brazilian, Uruguayan, Argentine and Paraguayan partners of the nongovernmental organization BirdLife International. Food company Marfrig signed an agreement with 24 certified producers to receive, slaughter and distribute meat from 250 animals per month initially.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to conserve the grasslands in order to keep the business running,\u201d says Mathias Almeida, the company\u2019s sustainability manager. The native grasslands that form the predominant vegetation in the Pampa\u2014a natural ecosystem that occupies 176,500 km2<\/sup> in Rio Grande do Sul and accounts for 2% of the Brazilian landmass\u2014have been shrinking, from 41% of the Pampa in 2002 to 36% in 2008. This contraction has occurred as a result of expanding monocultures such as soybeans, and an increase in pastures containing exotic grass species, which suppress biodiversity. The grasslands are home to some 500 bird species, such as Brazilian ostrich, Rufous Hornero (a type of ovenbird), Saffron-cowled Blackbird, Black-and-white Monjita, Chalk-browed Mockingbird and Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, in addition to 100 species of mammals, including the endangered Pampas deer and the tuco-tuco<\/em>, a rodent found only in this region.<\/p>\n

Southern identity<\/strong>
\n\u201cLivestock-raising on native grasslands, combined with proper management, offers an excellent opportunity for economic gain and for maintaining the ecosystem services of the grassland environments,\u201d says geographer Heinrich Hasenack of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. \u201cWe must take great care to identify the appropriate animal load for each type of grassland in order to avoid animal overload.\u201d The Alliance proposes a limit of 0.8 animals per hectare\u2014well below the three or four per hectare for more densely vegetated pasture\u2014as a way of preserving both the vegetation and producers\u2019 profitability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith good management and no animal overload, livestock-raising on native grasslands is considered a key element in maintaining regional diversity and ecosystem services, just as fire is important for maintaining diversity in some physiognomies of the Cerrado,\u201d notes biologist Tiago Gomes, a professor at the Federal University of the Pampa (Unipampa). \u201cSimple additional practices can increase species richness on rural properties. These include animal rotation using penning systems or shifts, which allow plants to seed before the animals are put out to graze, and also offer the animals heterogeneous pastureland with different heights and densities of brush.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The

Fabio Colombini<\/span>The recommended maximum is 0.8 animals per hectare as a way of preserving vegetation and profitabilityFabio Colombini<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Cattlemen and environmentalists say they are seeing satisfying results so far. \u201cWe are managing to preserve not only biodiversity and a typical southern vegetation type, but also the identity of Rio Grande do Sul, which is closely linked to cattle ranching and native grasslands,\u201d observes biologist Pedro Develey, executive director of the Society for the Conservation of Brazilian Birds (SAVE\/BirdLife), a nongovernmental organization. Develey helped design the strategy to promote cattle-raising in this natural environment as a preservation method, mainly for bird populations and diversity (see <\/em>Pesquisa FAPESP Issue n\u00ba 156<\/em><\/a>). When he joined SAVE\/BirdLife in 2004, there was already a project in the making to conserve the birds of the native grasslands, which stretch across three neighboring countries. His first challenge in continuing the project was to expand the universe of partners. \u201cI knew only researchers in academia, but I had to talk with the cattlemen, too,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

At a cattlemen\u2019s meeting in the city of Bag\u00e9 in 2006, Develey felt he finally had a stroke of luck when he heard a presentation by agronomist Fernando Adauto Loureiro de Souza\u2014who then headed the Rio Grande do Sul Grasslands Beef Producers Association (Apropampa)\u2014about creating a seal of geographical origin, to be granted to ranchers who raise cattle on native grasslands. \u201cYou\u2019re doing exactly what we want to do,\u201d Develey told him. Souza heard this and liked what he had proposed. Joined by other biologists, the two looked over the lands of the other ranchers interested in preserving the native grasslands, even if there would be some impact from coexistence with cattle that trample and eat the vegetation.<\/p>\n

Birds in sight<\/strong>
\nGradually, environmentalists and cattle ranchers overcame their mutual resistance and settled on possible actions. Together, they drew up the criteria for environmental certificates that the Alliance would issue to producers who preserve the native grasslands on at least 50% of their land. \u201cNothing radical,\u201d he notes. \u201cThe Alliance will not turn away any producer who plants soybeans or eucalyptus on half of his land.\u201d In an effort to bring the groups together, he gave talks at cattlemen\u2019s meetings, and Souza spoke at a conference of ornithologists.<\/p>\n

To strengthen the proposals for biodiversity conservation, the biologists prepared bird identification guides. As a result of this effort, \u201cthe cattlemen began paying more attention to the birds on their land,\u201d Develey says. In a survey published in the November 2015 issue of the journal Lavras do Sul<\/em>, Glayson Bencke and other biologists at the Museum of Natural Sciences at the Zoobotanical Foundation of Rio Grande do Sul identified between 85 and 120 species of birds on each of the seven farms examined.\u00a0 According to the researchers, the bird populations and diversity appear to be holding steady.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best business is not to produce more, but to produce with higher profitability, Souza says. It was his idea to organize auctions of heifers and young and mature cows raised on native grasslands, for use in forming new herds. All of the animals in the first two auctions\u20141,115 in the first one in 2014, and 1,478 in the second auction the following year\u2014sold at a price at least 10% above market value, with proceeds of R$1.5 million and R$2.5 million, respectively. The third auction is set for April 23, 2016 in the city of Lavras do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul.<\/p>\n

The next few weeks, when packaged beef from these cattle reaches the refrigerated store shelves in area markets, will mark the beginning of the battle to win over consumers. If shoppers don\u2019t like the taste, consistency or price of meat from animals raised on native grasslands, cattle ranchers\u2019 commitment and the connections between people and institutions could become weakened.<\/p>\n

Scientific article<\/em>
\nDEVELEY, P. F. et al.<\/em> Conserva\u00e7\u00e3o das aves e da biodiversidade no bioma Pampa aliada a sistemas de produ\u00e7\u00e3o animal.<\/a> Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia<\/strong>. V. 16, No. 4, p. 308-15, 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cattle ranching on native grasslands balances interests of both parties","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[166],"tags":[206,200],"coauthors":[5968],"class_list":["post-219803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policies-st-en","tag-biodiversity","tag-environment"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219803"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=219803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}