Assessing economics and environmental issues at farm level: Including specificities on land use change and forest soil carbon storage of an Amazonian typical beef farm

Concerns about the land use change and sustainability of beefproduction are increasing around the world, particularly in the Amazonian region. We intend to improve understanding of economic and environmental issues of atypical Amazonian beef farmat the farm level. We use production cost and profitability analysis to assess farm economics. Employingan original approach we assessedgreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using a Life Cycle Assessment model integrating land-use change(LUC)and Soil Carbon Storage(SCS). We show that the beef farm is profitable only in the short-term. The main hotspots are land opportunity cost and livestock costs. The largest source of GHG emissionsfrom beef production(15 kg CO2equivalents per kg of live weight produced) comes from enteric fermentation (83%). LUC emissions candouble theGHG impact. Therefore, forestland preserved on theBrazilianfarm is an important sinkof SCS that can compensate all farm GHG emissions. Based on the literature, we conclude that economicfailure and the substantial GHG emissions are related to the low productivity of animals and land