ESTIMATE OF THE CARBON FOOTPRINT IN THE SOY AND CORN AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN MATO GROSSO

Abstract

The carbon footprint (CP) emerged with the aim of managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is one of several ways to measure its impacts. This work aims to evaluate the carbon footprint in the soybean and corn agricultural sector in Mato Grosso. The estimate was calculated taking into account individual carbon footprints from the use of fertilizer, electricity for irrigation, N2O emissions and from the use of pesticides. The estimate was made for the period from 2004 to 2022. The methodology used was based on the work of cheng et al. (2011). When analyzing the results of the annual Carbon Footprint, a reduction of values ​​in carbon intensity per quantity produced to 0.21980 in hectares can be seen. When comparing the results obtained by Cheng et al. (2011), the average production intensity for the period from 1993 to 2007 was 0.110 tonC/ton while the average in the state of Mato Grosso for the soybean crop, in the period between 2004 to 2022, was 0.21980 tonC /ton . When considering the corn crop, the carbon intensity results per amount produced were even lower compared to soybeans, 0.08224 tonC/ton., which demonstrates that crop rotation is too important when measuring the carbon footprint in the agricultural sector.