ABSTRACT: Beef cattle ranching is the main economic activity in the Brazilian Pantanal, undertaken in an extensive manner, mostly in natural environments and dynamic in space and time. The ongoing monitoring, assessment, and performance improvement are key aspects of the search for sustainable use of natural resources in beef cattle ranches, as these ranches are the management units in the Pantanal. In this paper we proposed a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to assess the performance of fourteen beef cattle ranches in the Pantanal wetland as a case study, considering financial, productive, and environmental sustainability dimensions. We modeled each dimension separately and calculated an overall performance score. We also fit fractional regression models to study the influence of potential covariates on the performance scores. The methodological approach proposed here proved to be adequate for the case study, as the results are in line with the expectations of decision-makers regarding the performance of the ranches. The overall performance analysis was influenced by the proportion of higher quality native forage resources, which depends on the dynamics and on the spatial-temporal variation of the landscapes. Therefore, overall performance requires adaptive management of ranches based on diversity conservation, which benefits the multifunctionality of products and services.

RESUMO: A pecuária de corte é a principal atividade econômica do Pantanal brasileiro, praticada de forma extensiva em ambientes predominantemente naturais e espaço-temporalmente dinâmicos. Monitorar, avaliar e aprimorar continuamente o desempenho das fazendas de pecuária é um aspecto chave na busca do uso sustentável de recursos naturais, já que as fazendas são a unidade de manejo no Pantanal. Nesse sentido, objetivou-se neste artigo a adoção de modelos de análise envoltória de dados (DEA) para avaliar o desempenho de 14 fazendas pantaneiras como estudo de caso, considerando as dimensões da sustentabilidade financeira, produtiva e ambiental. Cada dimensão foi modelada separadamente e, na sequência, foi calculado um escore único de desempenho global. Foram ainda ajustados modelos de regressão fracionária para estudar a influência de potenciais covariáveis nos escores de desempenho. A abordagem metodológica aqui proposta mostrou-se adequada ao caso de estudo em questão, com resultados alinhados às expectativas dos tomadores de decisão quanto ao desempenho das fazendas. A análise do desempenho global foi influenciada pela proporção de recursos forrageiros nativos de melhor qualidade, que depende da dinâmica e variação espaço-temporal das paisagens. Portanto, o desempenho global requer uma gestão adaptativa das propriedades com base na conservação da diversidade, o que beneficia a multifuncionalidade de produtos e serviços.

RESUMO A agricultura de baixo carbono é um dos temas centrais da agenda climática. Objetivou-se avaliar o desempenho de uma fazenda de agricultura de baixa emissão de carbono no estado do Maranhão, Brasil, por meio de abordagens univariadas e multivariadas. O delineamento experimental consistiu de três repetições de cinco tratamentos (usos da terra) (Cerrado como área de referência; plantio direto de soja-milho safrinha; plantio direto de milho-soja-milho safrinha; plantio direto de milho-soja; plantio direto de soja-milho safrinha-Brachiarya brizantha), em cinco períodos (dias julianos: 28, 48, 83, 138 e 154), totalizando 75 observações. Os dados foram analisados utilizando-se abordagens univariadas e multidimensionais. Observou-se interação estatisticamente significativa entre tratamento e período, indicando que as respostas ao tratamento variam com o tempo. A parcela com melhor desempenho foi a área de referência, seguida pelo tratamento plantio direto de soja-milho safrinha.

ABSTRACT The low-carbon agriculture is one of the central themes in the climate agenda. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of a low carbon farm in the Maranhão State, Brazil, using univariate and multidimensional approaches. The experimental design consisted of three replications of five treatments (land uses) (Cerrado as a reference area; no-tillage soybean-off-season corn; no-tillage corn-soybean-off-season corn; no-tillage corn-soybean; no-tillage soybean-off-season corn-Brachiarya brizantha), in five periods (Julian days: 28, 48, 83, 138 and 154), totaling 75 observations. The data were analyzed using univariate and multidimensional approaches. A statistically significant interaction was observed between treatment and period, indicating that the responses to the treatment vary with time. The plot that showed the best performance was the reference area, followed by the no-tillage soybean-off-season corn treatment.

RESUMO Projetos que auxiliem o produtor rural a utilizar práticas sustentáveis de produção são fundamentais para a preservação dos biomas. O Projeto ABC Cerrado, por exemplo, visou promover o uso sustentável da terra e melhorar o manejo florestal no bioma Cerrado, entre 2014 e 2019. Dentre as metas do Projeto estava avaliar o impacto decorrente da capacitação de um grupo de agricultores em tecnologias sustentáveis para a produção agrícola e da oferta de assistência técnica para o manejo de propriedades rurais. Neste estudo, avaliou-se o impacto desse Projeto. A percepção de impacto aqui adotada possui três dimensões: eficiência técnica; probabilidade de a atividade ser um sumidouro de carbono; e redução de emissões de carbono. De maneira geral, houve melhora no desempenho ambiental das fazendas atendidas pelo Projeto. Isso reflete o esforço dos agricultores em adequar seus processos produtivos e incorporar as boas práticas agrícolas disseminadas pelo processo de transferência de tecnologia propostas pelo Projeto.

ABSTRACT Projects that help rural producers to use sustainable production practices are essential for the preservation of biomes. The ABC Cerrado Project, for example, aimed to promote the sustainable land use, as well as to improve the forest management, in the Cerrado (Brazilian Savanna) biome, from 2014 to 2019. The Project’s goals included assessing the impact resulting from training a group of farmers in sustainable technologies for agricultural production and offering them technical assistance for managing rural properties. In this study, the impact of this Project was evaluated. The perception of impact adopted here has three dimensions: technical efficiency; probability of the activity being a carbon sink; and reduction of carbon emissions. In general, there was an improvement in the environmental performance of farms assisted by the Project. This reflects the efforts of the farmers to adjust their production processes and incorporate the good agricultural practices disseminated by the technology transfer process proposed by the Project.

ABSTRACT This study aimed to assess the physical performance of Pantaneiro horses with and without equine infectious anemia (EIA) under functional conditions of cattle management. The horses were subjected to a performance test and split into two groups according to a completely randomized design: animals were chosen from populations testing positive and negative for EIA. Performance was measured as a function of a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model considering four outputs and one unitary input. The output measures were the distance achieved in the performance test, hematocrit as a weighted average over the test duration, respiratory rate as weighted average over the test duration, and the level of lactic acid at the test termination. Weights for the hematocrit and the respiratory rate output variables were determined by means of factor analysis. The performance score was a weighted average of the output variables with the weights defined by the averages of the optimum individual multipliers in the DEA analysis. Contextual variables of interest were age, horse weight, room temperature, and corporal temperature. Only groups and room temperature were statistically significant effects, as indicated by a bootstrap analysis. The performance of group positive for EIA is significantly lower than that of the group negative for EIA and room temperature has a negative effect.

ABSTRACT In this article we assess the effect of market imperfections and income inequality on rural production efficiency. The analysis is carried out using the notion of stochastic conditional efficiency computed in terms of free disposal hull (FDH) efficiency measurements. Free disposal hull and conditional FDH are output oriented with variable returns to scale. They are evaluated for rural production at the county level, considering the rank of rural gross income as the output and the ranks of land expenses, labor expenses, and expenses on other technological factors as inputs. The conditional frontier is dependent on income inequality and other indicators related to market imperfections. The econometric approach is based on fractional regression models and the generalized method of moments (GMM). Overall, the market imperfection variables act to reduce performance, and income dispersion is positively associated with technical efficiency.

ABSTRACT We consider the use of the non-Archimedean infinitesimal epsilon in DEA-CCR models. The application of interest is defined by the performance measure of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation research centers. We characterize an assurance region for the non-Archimedean element and suggest a value for it. Types of DMUs are compared using fractional regression models and quasi maximum likelihood inference. We conclude that the research centers aimed at studying specific agricultural products are dominant. The classic DEA-CCR performance measures and the solution provided by non-Archimedean model have Spearman correlation over 90%.

This study evaluated the performance of 21 beef cattle modal production systems that conduct only the raising phase. These production systems were developed in 21 municipalities in seven Brazilian states. We used two different DEA BCC models, corresponding to different points of view. Firstly we used an economic model that measured the ability of a production system to generate revenue with the preservation of native forest, using labor, capital, and current spending as inputs. The socio-environmental approach, corresponding to the second BCC model, uses the production factor labor as an output. In that model our interest was to assess whether the capital costs generate economic, environmental, and social benefits. Weight restrictions were imposed on the output variables of each model to explain the proposed viewpoints and to avoid inconsistent results. The results pointed out sources of inefficiency in terms of labor with low qualification, and use of bulls of questionable quality, factors that are common in extensive systems. These are some of the major bottlenecks in animal production systems as a whole.

We describe the relative participation of the Brazilian meat market (beef, pork and chicken) in total agribusiness exports and in total country exports. An analysis of the world meat market is carried out from the point of view of the values of consumption, production, exports and imports. A DEA (data envelopment analysis) approach is then used to generate classifications of the importance of countries in the meat world market, and the insertion of Brazil into this market is viewed from these perspectives. A partial equilibrium model for the meat market is fitted to Brazilian data by a three-stage least squares procedure. The model is consistent with the data and is used for simulation purposes. In this context, we investigate the joint and separate effects of changes in the corn price and in the exchange rate on the market of endogenous variables, ceteris paribus.

Neste artigo propõe-se analisar comparativamente o desempenho de sistemas de produção modais de pecuária extensiva de corte na fase de cria em 21 municípios brasileiros. A cria é a fase da atividade que sustenta toda a cadeia de produção da pecuária de corte. É usado o modelo de análise envoltória de dados (DEA) com retornos variáveis de escala. O objetivo é medir o desempenho da decisão do produtor em relação à composição do sistema produtivo. As variáveis usadas são número de reprodutores, quantidade de bezerros e vacas de descarte. Dos 21 sistemas avaliados, quatro foram DEA BCC eficientes e a maioria dos sistemas avaliados opera na região de retornos crescentes de escala.

In this article, the performance of extensive livestock modal production systems was analyzed comparatively during its rearing phase in 21 Brazilian municipalities. This phase constitutes the activity that sustains the entire livestock production chain. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) models were used with variable returns to scale. The objective was to measure the performance of the producer's decision regarding the composition of the production system. The number of bull breeders, number of calves and number of cull cows were the variables used. Four of the 21 systems evaluated were DEA efficient and most of them were operating under increasing returns to scale.

In this article we consider some properties of concern for research production at Embrapa. We apply statistical tests to address questions related to the scale of operation, the presence of allocative inefficiencies and separability of inputs and outputs. The production process is assessed by nonparametric methods with the use of Data Envelopment Analysis. The period under analysis is 2002-2009. We conclude that Embrapa's technology frontier shows variable returns to scale, is allocative efficient in general and is separable in inputs and outputs. These characteristics justify the company policy of adopting a VRS solution and the aggregation of output variables. Scale inefficiencies are the basis for further input congestion studies.

DEA models assume the homogeneity of the units under evaluation (DMUs). However,in some cases, the DMUs use different production technologies. In such cases, they should be evaluated separately. In this paper we evaluate the efficiency of family farmers from the Brazilian Eastern Amazon, who use different agricultural production systems. We propose an alternative algorithm to assess the global efficiency, taking into account the non-homogeneity. The results show that the farmers that use the classical technology are more efficient than those considered "environmental friendly", as we took into account only the economic point of view.

The cow-calf beef production sector in Brazil has a wide variety of operating systems. This suggests the identification and the characterization of homogeneous regions of production, with consequent implementation of actions to achieve its sustainability. In this paper we attempted to measure the performance of 21 livestock modal production systems, in their cow-calf phase. We measured the performance of these systems, considering husbandry and production variables. The proposed approach is based on data envelopment analysis (DEA). We used unitary input DEA model, with apparent input orientation, together with the efficiency measurements generated by the inverted DEA frontier. We identified five modal production systems typologies, using the isoefficiency layers approach. The results showed that the knowledge and the processes management are the most important factors for improving the efficiency of beef cattle production systems.

The objective of this study was to propose Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models and non-parametric Malmquist indexes to evaluate the efficiency of 11 livestock farms in the Pantanal region. These farms took out a loan from 'Fundo Constitucional de Financiamento do Centro-Oeste' - FCO (Constitutional Financial Fund for the Midwest), a line of credit for financing heifer retention. The beneficiaries were the farmers whose properties met the following conditions: farms located in the plain of Pantanal, with at least 50% of native pasture; farms that were part of managerial capacity building projects intended to ensure better management and animal performance indexes; and farms with pasture areas where the activity could potentially evolve. The management of the loan on 11 farms were studied in relation to the technology introduced in the period from 2004 to 2008. Five properties presented technical efficiency below 1, that is, the technical management efficiency with the objective to increase the cattle through heifer retention and the purchase of higher genetic quality heifers was not achieved. However, the index of technological progress was above 1 on all tested farms, which means that technology was in fact incorporated in all properties, which resulted in total factor productivity growth on all farms. The main objective was fully met, even on the technically inefficient farms.

In this article we perform production efficiency analysis for the 40 countries with largest value added by agricultural sector in 2005. Under the assumption of a nonparametric frontier and production observations satisfying a statistical model including both random and inefficiency errors, we estimate an agricultural production function using DEA measures of efficiency with output orientation and variable returns to scale. We found evidence that the set of countries investigated could increase their total value added by agricultural sector for at least 53.9% without increasing input usage with the prevailing technology. This result has a direct impact on issues related to the recent food crisis

É proposta neste artigo uma extensão do modelo de Análise de Envoltória de Dados com Ganhos de Soma Zero (DEA-GSZ). Esta extensão considera simultaneamente projeções não radiais e restrições do tipo cone-ratio. Mostra-se necessário para a resolução do modelo proposto, o uso de um algoritmo iterativo aproximado. Isto se deve ao fato de o modelo ser orientado a somente um dos outputs, o de soma constante. O modelo teórico desenvolvido é exemplificado a um problema de concessão de descontos e sobretaxas em tarifas aeroportuárias.

We propose in this paper an extension to the Zero Sum Gains Data Envelopment Analysis model (ZSG-DEA). The proposed approach takes into account, simultaneously, non-radial projections and cone-ratio weights restrictions. We developed an iterative approximate algorithm to solve this model, as in the case study it is oriented only to the constant sum output. The theoretical approach is applied to the concession of discounts and surcharges problem, in terms of airport fees.