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Abstract
This study focuses on evaluating the full distribution of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to agricultural land-use change in Mato Grosso, Brazil, both from a farmer and policy perspective. By combining three simulation models as well as data from field experiments, we present a novel Integrated Assessment approach that evaluates a large set of production systems, management practices, technologies, climatic conditions, and soil types with very high spatial resolution. The main component of our application is a multi-agent mathematical programming simulator that links socio-economic and biophysical constraints at farm-level and, hence, simulates farmer decision-making and policy response. We estimate the GHG emissions related to the full range of farm production systems and sources, such as inputs, machinery production, diesel consumption, soil processes, land use change (soil organic carbon and carbon stock from vegetation) and enteric fermentation. The results of our simulations indicate that GHG emissions in Mato Grosso are very sensitive to alternative land use change scenarios. The largest source of GHG emissions from crop and eucalyptus production is the use of farming inputs, while for cattle production it is the emission from enteric fermentation. Final simulation results regarding farmer policy response will be presented at the ICAE conference.
Acknowledgement : This research was financed by the CarBioCial project of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. We thankfully acknowledge the scholarships awarded by the Brazilian Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) [grant number BEX-10421/14-9]. We are grateful to Embrapa Agrossilvipastoril and IMEA for the technical materials and knowledge provided. Special thanks to Eric B necke and Uwe Franko for their support on the parameterization of CANDY simulations. The simulation experiments were performed using the computational resources of bwUniCluster funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts and the Universities of the State of Baden-W rttemberg, Germany.