Drivers of agricultural land - use change in the Argentine Pampas and Chaco regions

Agricultural expansion and intensification in South America's dry forests and grasslands increase agricultural production, but also result in major environmental trade-offs. The Pampas and Chaco regions of Argentina have been global hotspots of agricultural land-use change since the 2000s, yet our u...

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Main Authors: Piquer Rodriguez, María, Butsic, V., Gartner, P., Macchi, Leandro, Baumann, Matthias, Gavier Pizarro, Gregorio Ignacio, Volante, Jose Norberto, Gasparri, Néstor Ignacio, Kuemmerle, Tobias
Format: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Language:Inglés
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/2198
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622817306872
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2018.01.004
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author Piquer Rodriguez, María
Butsic, V.
Gartner, P.
Macchi, Leandro
Baumann, Matthias
Gavier Pizarro, Gregorio Ignacio
Volante, Jose Norberto
Gasparri, Néstor Ignacio
Kuemmerle, Tobias
author_browse Baumann, Matthias
Butsic, V.
Gartner, P.
Gasparri, Néstor Ignacio
Gavier Pizarro, Gregorio Ignacio
Kuemmerle, Tobias
Macchi, Leandro
Piquer Rodriguez, María
Volante, Jose Norberto
author_facet Piquer Rodriguez, María
Butsic, V.
Gartner, P.
Macchi, Leandro
Baumann, Matthias
Gavier Pizarro, Gregorio Ignacio
Volante, Jose Norberto
Gasparri, Néstor Ignacio
Kuemmerle, Tobias
author_sort Piquer Rodriguez, María
collection INTA Digital
description Agricultural expansion and intensification in South America's dry forests and grasslands increase agricultural production, but also result in major environmental trade-offs. The Pampas and Chaco regions of Argentina have been global hotspots of agricultural land-use change since the 2000s, yet our understanding of what drives the spatial patterns of these land-use changes remains partial. We parameterized a net returns model of agricultural land-use change to estimate the probability of agricultural expansion (conversions of woodlands to either cropland or grazing land) and agricultural intensification (conversion of grazing land to cropland) at the 1-km scale for the years 2000 and 2010. Uniquely, our model allowed us to quantify the importance of underlying causes (i.e., changes in agricultural profit) and spatial determinants (i.e., soil fertility, distance to markets, etc.), for Argentina's prime agricultural regions as a whole. We found that cropland and grazing land expansion into woodlands was much less sensitive to changes in profit-related factors than agricultural intensification. Profit-related variables, were a particularly strong cause of intensification in the Pampas, where cropland profits rose by 29% (compared to 18% in the Chaco). This suggests that further conversions of grazing land to cropland in the Pampas and Chaco is likely as long as agricultural demand, and thus returns to agriculture, continue to be high. The moderate impact of profit-related factors on affecting woodland conversion rates also suggests a limited potential of economic policies that affect marginal profits (e.g., taxes or subsidies) to alter deforestation rates and patterns in major ways. Policies that target socio-economic variables not included in our profit-focused framework (e.g., capital availability), area-based interventions (e.g., land zoning), or less-profit oriented actors (e.g., via community-based management) might be more effective in addressing deforestation rates in the Chaco.
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spelling INTA21982018-10-17T13:25:36Z Drivers of agricultural land - use change in the Argentine Pampas and Chaco regions Piquer Rodriguez, María Butsic, V. Gartner, P. Macchi, Leandro Baumann, Matthias Gavier Pizarro, Gregorio Ignacio Volante, Jose Norberto Gasparri, Néstor Ignacio Kuemmerle, Tobias Agricultura Utilización de la Tierra Intensificación Agriculture Land Use Intensification Región Pampeana Región Chaqueña Agricultural expansion and intensification in South America's dry forests and grasslands increase agricultural production, but also result in major environmental trade-offs. The Pampas and Chaco regions of Argentina have been global hotspots of agricultural land-use change since the 2000s, yet our understanding of what drives the spatial patterns of these land-use changes remains partial. We parameterized a net returns model of agricultural land-use change to estimate the probability of agricultural expansion (conversions of woodlands to either cropland or grazing land) and agricultural intensification (conversion of grazing land to cropland) at the 1-km scale for the years 2000 and 2010. Uniquely, our model allowed us to quantify the importance of underlying causes (i.e., changes in agricultural profit) and spatial determinants (i.e., soil fertility, distance to markets, etc.), for Argentina's prime agricultural regions as a whole. We found that cropland and grazing land expansion into woodlands was much less sensitive to changes in profit-related factors than agricultural intensification. Profit-related variables, were a particularly strong cause of intensification in the Pampas, where cropland profits rose by 29% (compared to 18% in the Chaco). This suggests that further conversions of grazing land to cropland in the Pampas and Chaco is likely as long as agricultural demand, and thus returns to agriculture, continue to be high. The moderate impact of profit-related factors on affecting woodland conversion rates also suggests a limited potential of economic policies that affect marginal profits (e.g., taxes or subsidies) to alter deforestation rates and patterns in major ways. Policies that target socio-economic variables not included in our profit-focused framework (e.g., capital availability), area-based interventions (e.g., land zoning), or less-profit oriented actors (e.g., via community-based management) might be more effective in addressing deforestation rates in the Chaco. Inst. de Recursos Biológicos Fil: Piquer Rodriguez, María. Humboldt-University Berlin. Geography Department; Alemania Fil: Butsic, V. University of California Berkeley. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management; Estados Unidos Fil: Gartner, P. Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research; Alemania Fil: Macchi, Leandro. Humboldt-University Berlin. Geography Department; Alemania Fil: Baumann, Matthias. Humboldt-University Berlin. Geography Department; Alemania Fil: Gavier Pizarro, Gregorio Ignacio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Recursos Biológicos; Argentina Fil: Volante, Jose Norberto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Salta; Argentina Fil: Gasparri, Nestor Ignacio. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Tucumán; Argentina. Humboldt-University Berlin. Integrative Research Institute for Transformations in Human Environment Systems; Alemania Fil: Kuemmerle, Tobias. Humboldt-University Berlin. Geography Department; Alemania. Humboldt-University Berlin. Integrative Research Institute for Transformations in Human Environment Systems; Alemania 2018-04-09T13:54:39Z 2018-04-09T13:54:39Z 2018-02 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/2198 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622817306872 0143-6228 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2018.01.004 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess application/pdf Applied geography 91 : 111-122. (February 2018)
spellingShingle Agricultura
Utilización de la Tierra
Intensificación
Agriculture
Land Use
Intensification
Región Pampeana
Región Chaqueña
Piquer Rodriguez, María
Butsic, V.
Gartner, P.
Macchi, Leandro
Baumann, Matthias
Gavier Pizarro, Gregorio Ignacio
Volante, Jose Norberto
Gasparri, Néstor Ignacio
Kuemmerle, Tobias
Drivers of agricultural land - use change in the Argentine Pampas and Chaco regions
title Drivers of agricultural land - use change in the Argentine Pampas and Chaco regions
title_full Drivers of agricultural land - use change in the Argentine Pampas and Chaco regions
title_fullStr Drivers of agricultural land - use change in the Argentine Pampas and Chaco regions
title_full_unstemmed Drivers of agricultural land - use change in the Argentine Pampas and Chaco regions
title_short Drivers of agricultural land - use change in the Argentine Pampas and Chaco regions
title_sort drivers of agricultural land use change in the argentine pampas and chaco regions
topic Agricultura
Utilización de la Tierra
Intensificación
Agriculture
Land Use
Intensification
Región Pampeana
Región Chaqueña
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/2198
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622817306872
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2018.01.004
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