| Crop production in Brazil has changed significantly over the last decade. New crops are being cultivated to satisfy the world's growing demand for Brazilian export products---a demand that has caused substantial changes in land use and cover, mainly characterized by the increase in large-scale mechanization of agriculture, deforestation, and intensification of agricultural land use.;Brazil currently provides crop production information at the municipality level. This information was analyzed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to examine changes in the spatial distribution of the production of various crops and livestock in Brazil for 1990--2006. In addition, to better understand the relationship between agricultural expansion and deforestation, spatial data on agricultural expansion and deforestation over the Legal Amazon were statistically analyzed for 2000--2006.;The results indicate that changes in the spatial patterns of crops have indeed taken place in central and northeastern Brazil as well as in the southern Amazon region. The areas to crops such as soybean and sugarcane expanded, surpassing the total area planted to domestic food crops, which, in turn, recorded a significant decrease in area. This crop expansion has exerted pressure on other crops and livestock, pushing them further into the Amazon forest region during 1990--2006.;In the same period, pasture was the predominant land use in the Legal Amazon; however, results indicate that the area planted to soybean increased whereas the area under pasture decreased. Statistical analyses revealed that, in those areas with over 50% forest, deforestation was strongly related to agricultural expansion. Deforestation was related to pasture expansion in the states of Mato Grosso and Rondonia, but not to soybean expansion. On the other hand, soybean expansion in Mato Grosso seems to be correlated to a decrease in pasture. An increase in pasture was also observed in the states of Para, Acre, and Rondonia, leading to the hypothesis that soybean expansion in Mato Grosso displaced pasture to other states, thereby indirectly causing deforestation elsewhere. The quality of the data precludes more conclusive evidence, and therefore the results should be interpreted with care. However, further work using ground-based and high-resolution remote sensing observation could help elucidate causal relationships. |
