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Steps toward sustainable ranching: An emergy evaluation of conventional and holistic management in Chiapas, Mexico

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  • Alfaro-Arguello, Rigoberto
  • Diemont, Stewart A.W.
  • Ferguson, Bruce G.
  • Martin, Jay F.
  • Nahed-Toral, José
  • David Álvarez-Solís, J.
  • Ruíz, René Pinto

Abstract

Conventional ranching in Chiapas, Mexico typically includes annual pasture burns and agrochemical use that decrease the biodiversity and forest cover of ranch lands. Members of a holistic ranching "club" in the Frailesca region of Chiapas, Mexico have moved away from this conventional management by eliminating burns and agrochemicals from their systems after decades of use because they believed that the land and their production process were growing unhealthy; they were further motivated by extension courses on holistic ranching. They have also implemented sophisticated systems of rotational grazing and diversified the use of trees. For this study all seven holistic ranchers and 18 neighboring conventional ranchers were interviewed about their cattle ranches and production strategies. An emergy analysis was conducted to compare the resource use, productivity and sustainability of the conventional and holistic ranches. Holistic ranches were found to have double the emergy sustainability index (ESI) values of conventional ranches, and the emergy yield ratio was 25% higher in holistic systems. Government assistance programs were found to have a negative impact on the ESI and were variably administered among holistic ranchers during the year of emergy evaluation. Overall improved emergy sustainability did not decrease milk nor cattle productivity. Transformities and specific emergies, the emergy of one type required to make a unit of energy (transformity) or mass (specific emergy) of another type, did not differ between conventional and holistic systems. Transformities for milk production ranged between 3.4E5 and 1.2E7 solar emjoules/joule (sej/J). Specific emergy for cattle production ranged from 3.5E10 to 1.5E11Â sej/g. To improve the ESI assistance programs could be re-targeted toward incentive programs for increased forest cover in ranching systems and startup costs for holistic ranching. The results from this study show that productivity can be maintained as the sustainability of rural dairy ranches is increased. These results also show that local knowledge and understanding of the surrounding ecosystem can drive positive environmental change in production systems.

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  • Alfaro-Arguello, Rigoberto & Diemont, Stewart A.W. & Ferguson, Bruce G. & Martin, Jay F. & Nahed-Toral, José & David Álvarez-Solís, J. & Ruíz, René Pinto, 2010. "Steps toward sustainable ranching: An emergy evaluation of conventional and holistic management in Chiapas, Mexico," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(9), pages 639-646, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agisys:v:103:y:2010:i:9:p:639-646
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    1. Stefano Pagiola & Paola Agostini & José Gobbi & Cees de Haan & Muhammad Ibrahim, 2004. "Paying for Biodiversity Conservation Services in Agricultural Landscapes," Others 0405005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    1. Agostinho, F. & Oliveira, M.W. & Pulselli, F.M. & Almeida, C.M.V.B. & Giannetti, B.F., 2019. "Emergy accounting as a support for a strategic planning towards a regional sustainable milk production," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    2. Xiumei Xu & Chao Feng & Yongshan Du & Qimeng Wang & Gaige Zhang & Yicheng Huang, 2022. "Evaluating the sustainability of a tourism system based on emergy accounting and emergetic ternary diagrams: a case study of the Xinjiang Kanas tourism area," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 6731-6787, May.
    3. Wright, Christina & Østergård, Hanne, 2015. "Scales of renewability exemplified by a case study of three Danish pig production systems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 315(C), pages 28-36.
    4. Miguel Angel Avalos-Rangel & Daniel E. Campbell & Delfino Reyes-López & Rolando Rueda-Luna & Ricardo Munguía-Pérez & Manuel Huerta-Lara, 2021. "The Environmental-Economic Performance of a Poblano Family Milpa System: An Emergy Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    5. Jaklič, Tina & Juvančič, Luka & Kavcic, Stane & Debeljak, Marko, 2014. "Multiple-perspective performance analysis of dairy production systems in Slovenia," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 183071, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Sherren, Kate & Fischer, Joern & Fazey, Ioan, 2012. "Managing the grazing landscape: Insights for agricultural adaptation from a mid-drought photo-elicitation study in the Australian sheep-wheat belt," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 72-83.
    7. Hannah Gosnell & Kerry Grimm & Bruce E. Goldstein, 2020. "A half century of Holistic Management: what does the evidence reveal?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(3), pages 849-867, September.
    8. Jaklič, Tina & Juvančič, Luka & Kavčič, Stane & Debeljak, Marko, 2014. "Complementarity of socio-economic and emergy evaluation of agricultural production systems: The case of Slovenian dairy sector," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 469-481.
    9. Ferguson, Bruce G. & Diemont, Stewart A.W. & Alfaro-Arguello, Rigoberto & Martin, Jay F. & Nahed-Toral, José & Álvarez-Solís, David & Pinto-Ruíz, René, 2013. "Sustainability of holistic and conventional cattle ranching in the seasonally dry tropics of Chiapas, Mexico," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 38-48.
    10. Falkowski, Tomasz B. & Martinez-Bautista, Isaias & Diemont, Stewart A.W., 2015. "How valuable could traditional ecological knowledge education be for a resource-limited future?: An emergy evaluation in two Mexican villages," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 300(C), pages 40-49.
    11. José Roberto Aguilar-Jiménez & José Nahed-Toral & Manuel Roberto Parra-Vázquez & Francisco Guevara-Hernández & Lucio Alberto Pat-Fernández, 2019. "Adaptability of Cattle-Raising to Multiple Stressors in the Dry Tropics of Chiapas, Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-21, April.

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    Keywords

    Dairy farming Farmer-to-farmer training Fire Government assistance Herbicide Rotational grazing;

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