Current sustainability challenges of production systems require comprehensive answers with a multidimensional approach. The objective of this study is to select indicators that allow quantifying the productive-economic, social, and environmental evolution of dairy systems transitioning towards agroecology through a co-innovation approach.
Nutrients deficiencies - mainly phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) - often depress forage productivity (FP) in pasture-based systems in the Pampas region (Argentina). Fertilizations are often used to attenuate these deficiencies, but it is necessary to increase the use efficiency of the applied nutrients.
Uruguayan dairy farms underwent an important intensification process during the last decades. Although pasture-based grazing systems are still dominant, one important component of such intensification is the increase of extra-farm feed inputs, along with an increased stocking rate and an increased supplementation rate per cow.
Several actions have been carried out in the Santa Lucia River basin (1.343.300 ha) in order to reduce the impact of anthropogenic pressure and improve water quality. Environmental models may be used as supportive tools when assessing the effect of local actions at a basin scale.
Sustainability of water quality and quantity in Merín Lagoon (ML) basin has become an issue of concern, recognizing nutrient runoff from agricultural environment as one of the major sources influencing water impairment. The main area of rice cultivation in Uruguay is located in this watershed.
Integrated rice-livestock systems were key for a sustained yield increase with decent resource-use efficiency and environmental indicators during 50 yrs. in Uruguay. The increased trends for intensification in cropping systems may prompt rice-livestock systems for decoupling and losing synergies. We summarize evidence about the sustainability of rice-livestock systems in Uruguay using indicators from farm data and a long-term experiment.
The aims of this study were to assess the long-term effects of different CPR on SOC stocks on the subsoil, and to draw conclusions about the capacity of CPR to sequester C in Uruguay.We conclude that incorporating pastures in continuous crop sequences increased soil organic carbon stocks through the soil profile by an average of 28%.
The dairy sector is facing difficulties in its environmental sustainability. A method is presented to assess sustainability based on the analysis of energy flows, with a particular focus on circularity. The results show that intensive dairy production systems, even those based on grazing, present an unbalanced situation in flow circularity and mobilizing more resources than they provide. This type of analysis is a first step in the research of sustainable solutions for the dairy sector, and where the measurement of carbon and nitrogen flows would be complementary.
The dairy sector is facing difficulties in its environmental sustainability. A method is presented to assess sustainability based on the analysis of energy flows, with a particular focus on circularity. The results show that intensive dairy production systems, even those based on grazing, present an unbalanced situation in flow circularity and mobilizing more resources than they provide. This type of analysis is a first step in the research of sustainable solutions for the dairy sector, and where the measurement of carbon and nitrogen flows would be complementary.
Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration is key in mitigating climate change. Rice systems rotated with perennial pastures are being intensified in South America to increase annual grain productivity, but the effects on SOC and rice yield remain poorly understood. These results highlight insights for the design of rice-based rotations that increase or sustain SOC and increase rice yield, helping simultaneously meet climate change and food production goals.