Beyond the shade: Family farmers' perceptions of silvopastoral systems in the Amazon

This exploratory study examines the efforts of family farmers in the Brazilian Amazon to establish silvopastoral systems that integrate trees, pasture, and cattle in the same area. These systems offer an alternative to conventional livestock rearing practices that remain the primary source of income for many impoverished families, and yet are also major drivers of ecological degradation, with far-reaching regional and global climate impacts. Using a qualitative case study approach, we conducted in-depth interviews with 17 smallholder families living in zones of rapid soybean expansion to identify the factors that support and constrain the adoption of silvopastoral systems. Our analysis highlights six issues that emerged from farmers’ accounts: the cultural dominance of monoculture agriculture; experiences of ecological problems associated with conventional agriculture; community-based alternatives to dominant agricultural practices; relationships between farmers and technicians involved in silvopastoral implementation; emerging farmer insights on ecological dynamics and biodiverse livestock systems; and the material limits of these innovations. Taken together, these findings advance four key arguments relevant to efforts to build alternatives to environmentally damaging food-production regimes. First, historical settlement patterns, long-standing socio-economic exclusion, and the cultural dominance of conventional agriculture continue to bind many smallholders to conventional livestock systems despite their declining ecological and economic viability. Second, community networks and nongovernmental organizational (NGO) initiatives grounded in Freirean participatory pedagogy can create openings for cooperation, dialogical learning, and the production of situated silvopastoral knowledge. Third, these socio-technical relations foster new practices through which farmers revalue biodiversity as both an ecological and economic asset. Fourth, the adoption of silvopastoral systems remains limited by labor demands, knowledge and skill requirements, and initial environmental conditions that slow system establishment.