Near doubling of Brazil's intensive row crop area since 2000

Viviana Zalles; Matthew C Hansen; Peter V Potapov; Stephen V Stehman; Alexandra Tyukavina; Amy Pickens; Xiao-Peng Song; Bernard Adusei; Chima Okpa; Ricardo Aguilar; Nicholas John; Selena Chavez

doi:10.1073/pnas.1810301115

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Near doubling of Brazil's intensive row crop area since 2000

Journal article

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Near doubling of Brazil's intensive row crop area since 2000

Viviana Zalles, Matthew C Hansen, Peter V Potapov, Stephen V Stehman, Alexandra Tyukavina, Amy Pickens, Xiao-Peng Song, Bernard Adusei, Chima Okpa, Ricardo Aguilar, …

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.116(2), pp.428-435

01/08/2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1810301115

PMCID: PMC6329943

PMID: 30559198

Abstract

Brazil

Conservation of Natural Resources

Crop Production

Humans

Rainforest

Brazil has become a global leader in the production of commodity row crops such as soybean, sugarcane, cotton, and corn. Here, we report an increase in Brazilian cropland extent from 26.0 Mha in 2000 to 46.1 Mha in 2014. The states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, Bahia (collectively MATOPIBA), Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Pará all more than doubled in cropland extent. The states of Goiás, Minas Gerais, and São Paulo each experienced >50% increases. The vast majority of expansion, 79%, occurred on repurposed pasture lands, and 20% was from the conversion of natural vegetation. Area of converted Cerrado savannas was nearly 2.5 times that of Amazon forests, and accounted for more than half of new cropland in MATOPIBA. Spatiotemporal dynamics of cropland expansion reflect market conditions, land use policies, and other factors. Continued extensification of cropland across Brazil is possible and may be likely under current conditions, with attendant benefits for and challenges to development.

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Title: Near doubling of Brazil's intensive row crop area since 2000
Creators - without role: Viviana Zalles - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742; vzalles@umd.edu
Matthew C Hansen - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Peter V Potapov - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Stephen V Stehman - Department of Forest and Natural Resources Management, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY 13210
Alexandra Tyukavina - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Amy Pickens - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Xiao-Peng Song - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Bernard Adusei - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Chima Okpa - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Ricardo Aguilar - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Nicholas John - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Selena Chavez - Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Publication Details: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, Vol.116(2), pp.428-435
Identifiers: 99871314404826
Academic Unit: Department of Sustainable Resources Management
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article