IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v230y2025ics0921800925000072.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From pastures to plates: The thorny path to achieving deforestation-free cattle from Brazil to European consumers

Author

Listed:
  • Vaccarezza Sevilla, Matías
  • Pedreira Lucchese, Gino
  • Krause, Torsten
  • Garcia Alarcon, Gisele

Abstract

The EU regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) enacted in 2023 aims to reduce deforestation connected to commodities imported to the EU, including cattle products. In Brazil, the EUDR pressures the local cattle supply chain towards more sustainable production. However, the potential effects of the EUDR on reducing deforestation in this sector are unclear and require scrutiny. Drawing on the concept of Telecoupling, we investigate the challenges and potential impacts of implementing the EUDR in the Brazilian cattle supply chain. We interviewed 19 Brazilian stakeholders representing the private sector, NGOs, investigative journals, banks, and governmental institutions through semi-structured questionnaires complemented with secondary data analysis. Our findings reveal the extent to which historical challenges, such as the lack of law enforcement and low productivity persist, and the possible spillover effects, including market and production leakages. Additionally, the study shows how the EUDR may lead to potential negative impacts for small-scale ranchers. We highlight the need to implement a transparent and integrated public birth-to-slaughter traceability system for cattle in Brazil to guarantee the EUDR's effectiveness. If European and Brazilian governments, cattle producers, and meatpacking companies are not able to address these issues, EUDR's objective to reduce deforestation will be difficult to achieve.

Suggested Citation

  • Vaccarezza Sevilla, Matías & Pedreira Lucchese, Gino & Krause, Torsten & Garcia Alarcon, Gisele, 2025. "From pastures to plates: The thorny path to achieving deforestation-free cattle from Brazil to European consumers," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:230:y:2025:i:c:s0921800925000072
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108524
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800925000072
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108524?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carrero, Gabriel Cardoso & Walker, Robert Tovey & Simmons, Cynthia Suzanne & Fearnside, Philip Martin, 2022. "Land grabbing in the Brazilian Amazon: Stealing public land with government approval," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    2. Zhenling Cui & Hongyan Zhang & Xinping Chen & Chaochun Zhang & Wenqi Ma & Chengdong Huang & Weifeng Zhang & Guohua Mi & Yuxin Miao & Xiaolin Li & Qiang Gao & Jianchang Yang & Zhaohui Wang & Youliang Y, 2018. "Pursuing sustainable productivity with millions of smallholder farmers," Nature, Nature, vol. 555(7696), pages 363-366, March.
    3. Gan, Jianbang & McCarl, Bruce A., 2007. "Measuring transnational leakage of forest conservation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 423-432, December.
    4. le Polain de Waroux, Yann & Garrett, Rachael D. & Graesser, Jordan & Nolte, Christoph & White, Christopher & Lambin, Eric F., 2019. "The Restructuring of South American Soy and Beef Production and Trade Under Changing Environmental Regulations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 188-202.
    5. Tacconi, Luca & Rodrigues, Rafael J. & Maryudi, Ahmad, 2019. "Law enforcement and deforestation: Lessons for Indonesia from Brazil," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Rajat Panwar & Jonatan Pinkse & Benjamin Cashore & Bryan W. Husted, 2023. "Why corporate sustainability initiatives fail to reduce deforestation and what to do about it," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5121-5127, December.
    7. Muradian, Roldan & Cahyafitri, Raras & Ferrando, Tomaso & Grottera, Carolina & Jardim-Wanderley, Luiz & Krause, Torsten & Kurniawan, Nanang I. & Loft, Lasse & Nurshafira, Tadzkia & Prabawati-Suwito, D, 2025. "Will the EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) reduce tropical forest loss? Insights from three producer countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    8. Luciana V. Gatti & Camilla L. Cunha & Luciano Marani & Henrique L. G. Cassol & Cassiano Gustavo Messias & Egidio Arai & A. Scott Denning & Luciana S. Soler & Claudio Almeida & Alberto Setzer & Lucas G, 2023. "Increased Amazon carbon emissions mainly from decline in law enforcement," Nature, Nature, vol. 621(7978), pages 318-323, September.
    9. Magalhães, Iara Barbosa & Pereira, Alexia Saleme Aona de Paula & Calijuri, Maria Lucia & Alves, Sabrina do Carmo & Santos, Vitor Juste dos & Lorentz, Juliana Ferreira, 2020. "Brazilian Cerrado and Soy moratorium: Effects on biome preservation and consequences on grain production," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    10. Cesar de Oliveira, Susan E.M. & Nakagawa, Louise & Lopes, Gabriela Russo & Visentin, Jaqueline C. & Couto, Matheus & Silva, Daniel E. & d'Albertas, Francisco & Pavani, Bruna F. & Loyola, Rafael & West, 2024. "The European Union and United Kingdom's deforestation-free supply chains regulations: Implications for Brazil," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    11. Bernardo M. Flores & Encarni Montoya & Boris Sakschewski & Nathália Nascimento & Arie Staal & Richard A. Betts & Carolina Levis & David M. Lapola & Adriane Esquível-Muelbert & Catarina Jakovac & Carlo, 2024. "Critical transitions in the Amazon forest system," Nature, Nature, vol. 626(7999), pages 555-564, February.
    12. Argemiro Teixeira Leite-Filho & Britaldo Silveira Soares-Filho & Juliana Leroy Davis & Gabriel Medeiros Abrahão & Jan Börner, 2021. "Deforestation reduces rainfall and agricultural revenues in the Brazilian Amazon," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-7, December.
    13. Chris A. Boulton & Timothy M. Lenton & Niklas Boers, 2022. "Pronounced loss of Amazon rainforest resilience since the early 2000s," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(3), pages 271-278, March.
    14. Paulo Moutinho & Claudia Azevedo-Ramos, 2023. "Author Correction: Untitled public forestlands threaten Amazon conservation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-1, December.
    15. Paulo Moutinho & Claudia Azevedo-Ramos, 2023. "Untitled public forestlands threaten Amazon conservation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-4, December.
    16. Wilman, Elizabeth A., 2019. "Market Redirection Leakage in the Palm Oil Market," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 226-234.
    17. Nelson Villoria & Rachael Garrett & Florian Gollnow & Kimberly Carlson, 2022. "Leakage does not fully offset soy supply-chain efforts to reduce deforestation in Brazil," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muradian, Roldan & Cahyafitri, Raras & Ferrando, Tomaso & Grottera, Carolina & Jardim-Wanderley, Luiz & Krause, Torsten & Kurniawan, Nanang I. & Loft, Lasse & Nurshafira, Tadzkia & Prabawati-Suwito, D, 2025. "Will the EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR) reduce tropical forest loss? Insights from three producer countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    2. Cosimo, Luiz Henrique Elias & Masiero, Mauro & Mammadova, Aynur & Pettenella, Davide, 2024. "Voluntary sustainability standards to cope with the new European Union regulation on deforestation-free products: A gap analysis," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    3. Walker, Sarah & Alix-García, Jennifer & Bartlett, Anne & Calder, Alice, 2025. "Land tenure security and deforestation: Evidence from a framed field experiment in Uganda," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    4. Silveira, Fabricio & Romero, João P. & Queiroz, Arthur & Freitas, Elton & Stein, Alexandre, 2025. "Economic complexity and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    5. Hasyim, Zainuri & Laraswati, Dwi & Purwanto, Ris H. & Pratama, Andita A. & Maryudi, Ahmad, 2020. "Challenges facing independent monitoring networks in the Indonesian timber legality assurance system," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    6. van der Hoff, Richard & Nascimento, Nathália & Fabrício-Neto, Ailton & Jaramillo-Giraldo, Carolina & Ambrosio, Geanderson & Arieira, Julia & Afonso Nobre, Carlos & Rajão, Raoni, 2022. "Policy-oriented ecosystem services research on tropical forests in South America: A systematic literature review," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    7. Adriane Terezinha Schneider & Rosangela Rodrigues Dias & Mariany Costa Deprá & Darissa Alves Dutra & Richard Luan Silva Machado & Cristiano Ragagnin de Menezes & Leila Queiroz Zepka & Eduardo Jacob-Lo, 2024. "The Intersectionality Between Amazon and Commodities Production: A Close Look at Sustainability," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-18, October.
    8. Jennifer M. Alix-Garcia & Elizabeth N. Shapiro & Katharine R. E. Sims, 2012. "Forest Conservation and Slippage: Evidence from Mexico’s National Payments for Ecosystem Services Program," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 88(4), pages 613-638.
    9. Knut Rosendahl & Jon Strand, 2015. "Emissions Trading with Offset Markets and Free Quota Allocations," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 61(2), pages 243-271, June.
    10. Nelson Villoria & Rachael Garrett & Florian Gollnow & Kimberly Carlson, 2022. "Leakage does not fully offset soy supply-chain efforts to reduce deforestation in Brazil," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    11. Liang Chi & Mengshuai Zhu & Chen Shen & Jing Zhang & Liwei Xing & Xiangyang Zhou, 2023. "Does the Winner Take All in E-Commerce of Agricultural Products under the Background of Platform Monopoly?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, February.
    12. Li, Lingchao & Liu, Jinlong & Long, Hexing & de Jong, Wil & Youn, Yeo-Chang, 2017. "Economic globalization, trade and forest transition-the case of nine Asian countries," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 7-13.
    13. Agarwal, Vernika & Malhotra, Snigdha & Dagar, Vishal & M. R, Pavithra, 2023. "Coping with public-private partnership issues: A path forward to sustainable agriculture," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    14. Barbara Breza-Boruta & Justyna Bauza-Kaszewska, 2023. "Effect of Microbial Preparation and Biomass Incorporation on Soil Biological and Chemical Properties," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, April.
    15. Pan, Wenqi & Chang, Wei-Yew & Wu, Ting & Zhang, Han & Ning, Zhuo & Yang, Hongqiang, 2021. "Impacts of the China-US trade restrictions on the global forest sector: A bilateral trade flow analysis," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    16. Xiaolin Yang & Jinran Xiong & Taisheng Du & Xiaotang Ju & Yantai Gan & Sien Li & Longlong Xia & Yanjun Shen & Steven Pacenka & Tammo S. Steenhuis & Kadambot H. M. Siddique & Shaozhong Kang & Klaus But, 2024. "Diversifying crop rotation increases food production, reduces net greenhouse gas emissions and improves soil health," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    17. Carauta, Marcelo & Troost, Christian & Guzman-Bustamante, Ivan & Hampf, Anna & Libera, Affonso & Meurer, Katharina & Bönecke, Eric & Franko, Uwe & Ribeiro Rodrigues, Renato de Aragão & Berger, Thomas, 2021. "Climate-related land use policies in Brazil: How much has been achieved with economic incentives in agriculture?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    18. Barbosa de Andrade Aragão, Rafaela & Bastos Lima, Mairon G. & Burns, Georgette Leah & Ross, Helen & Biggs, Duan, 2024. "‘Greenlash’ and reactionary stakeholders in environmental governance: An analysis of soy farmers against zero deforestation in Brazil," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    19. Wang, Linlin & Li, Lingling & Xie, Junhong & Luo, Zhuzhu & Sumera, Anwar & Zechariah, Effah & Fudjoe, Setor Kwami & Palta, Jairo A. & Chen, Yinglong, 2022. "Does plastic mulching reduce water footprint in field crops in China? A meta-analysis," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    20. Barbier, Edward B., 2025. "Greening agriculture for rural development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:230:y:2025:i:c:s0921800925000072. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.