Integrating or Des-integrating agribusiness systems: Outcomes of emergy evaluation

C M V B Almeida; A D Frugoli; F Agostinho; G Y Liu; B F Giannetti

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138733

Integrating or Des-integrating agribusiness systems: Outcomes of emergy evaluation

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Aug 10:729:138733. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138733. Epub 2020 Apr 16.

Authors

C M V B Almeida¹, A D Frugoli², F Agostinho², G Y Liu³, B F Giannetti⁴

Affiliations

¹ Laboratório de Produção e Meio Ambiente, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção, Universidade Paulista, R. Dr. Bacelar 1212, Cep 04026-002 São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: cmvbag@unip.br.
² Laboratório de Produção e Meio Ambiente, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção, Universidade Paulista, R. Dr. Bacelar 1212, Cep 04026-002 São Paulo, Brazil.
³ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Beijing Engineering Research Center for Watershed Environmental Restoration & Integrated Ecological Regulation, Beijing 100875, China.
⁴ Laboratório de Produção e Meio Ambiente, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção, Universidade Paulista, R. Dr. Bacelar 1212, Cep 04026-002 São Paulo, Brazil; State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.

PMID: 32498157
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138733

Abstract

The agribusiness contributes significantly to the Brazilian domestic production, and the search for environmentally friendly systems, exploring the maximum possible use of renewable resources and reducing the use of non-renewable ones, affects the agribusiness' productivity and competitivity. An agribusiness producing corn, eggs, pork and milk was evaluated using emergy accounting. The effects of the (des)integration of the production processes on the efficiency and environmental sustainability of the system were assessed using seven scenarios. The first is the existing integrated system and the others are scenarios in which one of the productive subsystems is removed. Efficiency is measured by the global productivity relative to the amount of protein produced. The most environmentally advantageous scenario, in terms of sustainability and productivity, is the one in which pork production is increased and egg production is ceased. This result suggests that increasing integration per se cannot assure gains in environmental sustainability. The integrated management of the residues of the poultry and pig production as organic fertilizer resulted an advantage for the seven scenarios. The scenarios presented should help to evaluate organizational innovations and to identify trade-offs that could influence the environmental performance of agricultural integrated systems.

Keywords: Emergy; Indicators, (des)integration; Sustainability, environmental accounting.