Intensification of rice-pasture rotations with annual crops reduces the stability of sustainability across productivity, economic, and environmental indicators.
Abstract CONTEXT Integrated crop-livestock systems are facing the pressure to intensify worldwide, yet decoupling crops and livestock can lead to specialized systems relying on greater external inputs and potential negative externalities. OBJECTIVE Our goal was to compare rice-pasture, as the business-as-usual rotation, with two intensified systems, rice-soybean and rice-cover crop, to address the following objectives:1) quantify partial carbon footprint (CF) including both crop and livestock, 2) develop a multi-criteria performance index based on productivity, economic, and environmental i