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Abstract
The article analyzes the effects of the adoption of conservation practices on the productivity and profit of Brazilian agricultural establishments. From the microdata of the Agricultural Census of 2006, we used the technique of Balancing by Entropy to make the samples of adopters and non-adopters matched, allowing the use of Weighted Ordinary Square Minima. The results, on average, indicated that farmers who adopt conservation practices in contour planting, crop rotation and crop for pasture recovery have lower productivity than non-adopters. However, the profit was higher for adopters of the practices (terraces and planting in contour lines) due to the reduction of costs. The lower productivity in farms with level planting is due to the reduction in cultivated area, necessary for its construction. The crop rotation is dependent on agroecological and edaphoclimatic conditions, crop selection and the increasing soil fertility. Regarding the result of the crop for pasture recovery, one possible explanation is the overcrowding of the pastures. The performance of the EMATER technicians becomes essential for the dissemination of information, as well as to propose combinations of practices appropriate to each local reality and with a greater potential for good results.