Research presented by ProVeg at the COP30 summit demonstrates how transitioning from livestock farming to plant-based agroforestry can increase the net income of Brazilian rural producers by 110% per hectare.

The Brazilian study, called Increasing Income, Respecting the Planet, Nourishing People, also found that in exceptional cases – such as when low-productivity cattle farming gives way to plant-based agroforestry – an income increase of up to 1,525% can be achieved in biodiverse countries with high incomes and access to specialised markets.

Coordinated by ProVeg Brazil and carried out by Brazil’s Agroecology Cooperative Organization (OCA), the study aims to outline a sustainable rural development route for Brazilian farmers as well as cutting countries’ emissions – plant-based agroforestry captures more greenhouse gases than it emits.

Livestock production is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Brazil, well ahead of transportation and energy. It accounts for approximately 60% of the country’s total emissions, according to calculations based on data from the Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals Estimation System.

This is partly due to enteric fermentation in ruminants, which emits methane: a gas with more than 80 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide. Emissions from enteric fermentation in Brazilian cattle herds exceed the total emissions of Italy.

Additionally, Mapbiomas data shows that more than 90% of deforestation in the Amazon was due to the opening of pastures between 1985 and 2023.

ProVeg noted that the continued increase in animal production in the country, with only a small decrease in 2024, is directly linked to territorial expansion and deforestation, whether due to the need for new pasture areas for cattle herds or monoculture areas of grains used mainly for animal feed. Around three-quarters of the world’s soybeans are estimated to be used for animal feed.

The new research shows plant-based agroforestry systems require 12 times less land than livestock farming to achieve the same gross revenue, helping to tackle deforestation and the regeneration of degraded areas.

Aline Baroni, executive director of ProVeg Brazil, said: “20% of the national territory is pastureland, of which 45-55% show some degree of degradation. If we transform 12% of these degraded pastures into agroforestry systems, this would already contribute to more than 5% of Brazil’s entire national mitigation target described in the Nationally Determined Contributions.”

Additionally, ProVeg found that plant-based agroforestry is potentially more promising than any livestock farming types analysed – beef cattle, dairy cattle, poultry and swine – across all Brazilian biomes when assessing the potential for increased producer income.

Transitioning to agroforestry systems can also support employment and diversification of income generation, potentially reducing rural migration. ProVeg revealed that for every BRL 1 million (approx. $188,380) of annual production in plant-based agroforestry systems, 30 jobs are generated in the supply chain, whereas in livestock farming, the same investment results in only seven jobs on average.

“Brazil doesn’t need to choose between a strong economy and climate protection,” Baroni said. “Our findings show that plant-based agroforestry systems are key to a more resilient and equitable food production matrix, capable of generating more value on the same land area currently used for livestock farming, as well as regenerating degraded areas.”

A transition to agroforestry would encourage family farming, agroecology and the production and consumption of plant-based foods, Baroni added – aligning with the Eat-Lancet Commission’s recommended Planetary Health Diet, designed to improve public health and significantly reduce our environmental footprint.

ProVeg’s report highlights the need for coordinated action so that plant-based agroforestry models can meet their full scalability and effectively replace the current model.

“The transition agenda depends on effective synergy, built between decision-makers, scientists, extension agents and the farmers themselves, allowing plant-based agroforestry systems to move from being a secondary alternative to becoming a priority in sustainable rural development,” Baroni said.

ProVeg proposes that the transition to agroforestry systems be elevated to a priority scial, agrarian, food and climate policy, obtaining more resources from programmes such as Pronaf (a national programme for supporting family agriculture) and strengthening the specialised Technical Assistance and Rural Extension.

The study calls for development of a clear political strategy among ministries to reconcile the production of healthy and adequate food with the urgency of climate mitigation and environmental regeneration. Baroni noted that the financial sector also has an “indispensable transformative role” to play in the transition.

“With restrictions on credit for livestock projects in deforested areas, the transition to agroforestry systems emerges as a channel through which financing can be directed, so that public and private banks can do their part in combating the climate crisis,” she added.

A pilot project for the transition has begun in Ortigueira, Paraná, in which a family farmer has started transitioning from livestock farming to a plant-based agroforestry system.

The Cultiva Project is offering free technical support to the farmer to gradually replace dairy and beef cattle with an agroforestry system where he will produce beans, corn, bananas, watermelon, papaya and pumpkin, to supply the region’s school canteens.

Coffee and yerba mate production will begin in a few years. Reforestation work, through the planting of native Atlantic Forest tree seedlings, is also being carried out as a fundamental part of the system.

“In our assessment, we observed that animal production was not profitable for the producer and implied limitations such as a lack of food and agricultural diversity, limited autonomy, and a loss of quality of life,” Baroni said. 

“The expectation is that plant-based production will generate income more than ten times higher than that of animals in the first year of transition.”

Top image: © Kawê Rodrigues