Socioeconomic and environmental assessment of biodiesel crops on family farming systems in Brazil João Guilherme Dal Belo Leite a,b, *, Flávio Barbosa Justino b , João Vasco Silva a , Madeleine J. Florin a , Martin K. van Ittersum a a Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 430, Wageningen 6700 AK, The Netherlands b Departamento de Engenharia Agrícola, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Av. P.H. Rolfs, s/n, Campus Universitário, Viçosa, MG CEP 36.570-000, Brazil ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 19 February 2014 Received in revised form 16 October 2014 Accepted 20 October 2014 Available online Keywords: Farming systems Biofuel Policy Semi-arid Family farms A B ST R AC T In Brazil, local agricultural research agendas are increasingly challenged by the search for sustainable biodiesel crop options for family farmers, especially under semi-arid conditions. The aim of this paper is to explore the suitability of different biodiesel crops (i.e. soybean, castor bean and sunflower) through a set of environmental and socioeconomic indicators in a semi-arid (Montes Claros) and a more humid (Chapada Gaúcha) municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeast Brazil. A technical coefficient gen- erator (TechnoGIN) was used to assess current (maize, beans, soybean and grass seed) and alternative (castor bean and sunflower) crops grown with current and alternative production techniques. The quan- tification of the inputs and outputs was based on farm surveys, expert knowledge, literature and field experiments. Although castor bean and sunflower are economically competitive with maize in Montes Claros, feed and labour requirements may hinder farmers’ adoption. In Chapada Gaúcha, the double crop- ping system soybean/sunflower presented small economic gains when compared to soybean; it also increased nitrogen losses and biocide residues. We conclude that the scope for alternative and sustain- able biodiesel crops on family farms is limited. Their economic benefits are small or absent, while their introduction can lead to higher environmental impacts and there may be trade-offs with food and feed availability at the farm level. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Worldwide, biofuels have become one of the most dynamic and rapidly growing sectors of the global energy economy (UN, 2007; Scragg, 2009; Tomes et al., 2010). There is increasing recognition that biofuel production can offer opportunities for countries to meet reduction of greenhouse gas emission targets, while empowering farmers through the generation of jobs and income in rural com- munities (Hazell and Pachauri, 2006; FAO, 2008). Biofuel initiatives in Brazil have recently targeted biodiesel as a way of combining renewable energy production with rural poverty reduction. A national program for production and use of biodiesel was created in 2004 framed by a set of regulations based on man- datory blending of biodiesel with fossil diesel (Brasil, 2005). Expectations on further expansion of the mandatory blending policy, from the present 5%, led to a fast development of the biodiesel in- dustrial production capacity which is able to supply two and a half times the current demand (Ubrabio, 2010; MME, 2012b). One of the main features of the policy is the inclusion of family farmers as feed- stock suppliers to the biodiesel industry. Biodiesel producers who comply with feedstock supply from family farmers (Appendix S1) are granted a social fuel stamp, which implies tax exemptions and selling preference at biodiesel auctions (MDA, 2011). Although the number of family farmers engaged in biodiesel crop production increased over the last five years, reaching over 100,000 families in 2010, biodiesel crop options are still narrow as 95% of the feedstock supplied is soybean. Soybean farmers are concen- trated in the South and Central-West Brazilian regions; together they account for 91% of the feedstock supplied. The semi-arid North- east region, on the other hand, has the highest concentration of family farms in the country (50%) and is responsible for only 5% of the total biodiesel feedstock acquisitions (MDA, 2011). Further- more, this region has an agricultural GDP per capita that is seven times smaller than in the South and Central-West of Brazil (IBGE, 2006). The Brazilian biodiesel policy is currently challenged by the search for alternative biodiesel crops that combine high oil productivity with better suitability for less endowed farmers, especially under semi-arid conditions. This strategy aims to increase oil production per area, thus positively affecting the energy balance of the pro- duction activity, and at the same time increasing family farms’ * Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 19 35211260; fax: +55 19 35211718. E-mail address: dalbeloleite@yahoo.com.br (J.G. Dal Belo Leite). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2014.10.005 0308-521X/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Agricultural Systems ■■ (2014) ■■–■■ ARTICLE IN PRESS Please cite this article in press as: João Guilherme Dal Belo Leite, Flávio Barbosa Justino, João Vasco Silva, Madeleine J. Florin, Martin K. van Ittersum, Socioeconomic and envi- ronmental assessment of biodiesel crops on family farming systems in Brazil, Agricultural Systems (2014), doi: 10.1016/j.agsy.2014.10.005 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Agricultural Systems journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/agsy