Sustainable Production Systems for Beef Cattle Breeding in The Pantanal

Abstract

This paper has the objective of analyzing the systems of sustainable production of beef cattle in the Pantanal. The database of the research is of a primary nature, with collection directly in the field through the application of questionnaires and interviews. The results reveal the growing interest of cattle ranchers for alternative production systems, which reduce costs with productivity, guaranteeing economic profitability. It is associated to the growing demand for organic meat in the national market. Sustainable cattle raising in the Pantanal is a production alternative to the modern conventional model, aiming at meeting the interests of pantanal ranchers, as well as new demands for products of differentiated quality and a healthy food and adapts to the conditions of the Pantanal biome. Business strategies articulate the network of actors with the production and dissemination of information and knowledge from the producer to the consumer. The production of alternative livestock, even if restricted to a few producers, serves as an example of which sustainability is possible and economically viable, even in medium and large properties. The Pantanal, which historically presented a more static rather than dynamic character, is inserted in postmodernity and post-productivism of the current phase of capitalism. To the conventional production system, with different technical levels, there are added alternative production systems, defined as sustainable.