Near doubling of Brazil’s intensive row crop area since 2000

This research article presents the results of a study that used the most spatially detailed historical record of satellite imagery available to show that the area of intensive row cropping in Brazil nearly doubled from 2000 to 2014 mainly because of the repurposing of pastures (80% of new cropland) rather than conversion of natural vegetation (20%). The study found that the trends of cropland expansion through time may be linked to land use policies, market conditions, and other factors. Although evidence suggests that land use policies slowed cropland expansion within Amazon rainforests, the study found no such decrease for Cerrado savannas, which experienced 2.5 times the natural vegetation conversion of the Amazon biome.

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Title (English)	Near doubling of Brazil’s intensive row crop area since 2000
Organization	PNAS
Language	English
Year	2018
File type	Online Article
Keywords English	Brazil, deforestation
Palabras clave Español	Brasil, deforestación
Palavras-chave Português	Brasil, desmatamento
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