Carbon footprint and Life Cycle Costing of beef cattle in the Brazilian midwest

Efforts to improve the environmental performance of beef cattle often result in mitigation strategies that ignore the financial profitability. The aim of this study was to identify production systems of beef cattle that allow reducing the greenhouse gas emissions and, concomitantly, are economically viable. Four different production systems of a typical farm were analyzed in the southern region of Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. The methodology used was the Environmental Life Cycle Costing, integrating the environmental Life Cycle Assessment and investment analysis tools. Production system IV, with slaughter of the animals at 20 months of age and 510 kg body weight, achieved the best results regarding the indicators profitability and emissions, reducing by 45% the emissions per kg of live weight and increasing by 38% the profitability per hectare compared to the base production system I. However, improvements in pastures are needed to increase the stocking rate per hectare and the average daily gain per animal, enabling lower emissions in production and greater financial returns to producers, avoiding the conversion of new areas into pastures for production.