Environmental assessment of agriculture in São Paulo State. Basis for a sustainable rural development

Abstract

Food and organic raw material production through farming can have more or less environmental impacts depending on the technology employed inside the agroecosystem as well as outside of it, on the surrounding ecosystems. In these last ones the impacts result from the residues generated in the productive process. Those residues can be classified in two broad categories: sediments resulting from soil erosion and agro-chemicals residues (chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides) which cause, respectively, silt settings and soil and water pollution. Besides these impacts, the very agricultural expansion can be a source of natural resources depletion as it threats needlessly the remaining biodiversity inside and outside the agricultural areas "table 1 below relates the main environmental impacts caused by conventional agricultural practices to the main parameters employed to evaluate them". The present proposal will take care of the columns 1 and 2 "table 1. Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Practices environment destruction caused by conventional agriculture (1) main parameters for assessment of environmental impacts; (2) other parameters for assessment of environmental impacts; (3) erosion suspended solids soluble solids settled solids soil losses (ton/ha/year) soil composition and structure turbidity index water quality indexes settling rates and granulometry biomass productivity and decline stock reduction of native plants seeds aquatic biodiversit losses eutrophization biota modifications soil's fertility decrease agro-chemicals fertilizers pesticides water infiltration rate and composition contamination: nitrate and chemicals residues... (AU)