Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture in Brazil

A far-reaching survey showcasing the improvements made to soil health in Brazil

The maintenance of healthy soil resources provides the foundations for an array of global efforts and initiatives that affect humanity. Researchers, consultants, and farmers must be able to correctly examine and understand the complex nature of this essential, fragile resource. Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture in Brazil provides a highly readable overview of the major cropping systems and management practices adopted in Brazil to improve soil health and sustain agricultural/forest production systems.

Key Features

• Evolution of soil health concepts applied to modern agricultural systems in Brazil.
• Overview of the major cropping systems and management practices adopted in Brazil to improve soil health (SH) and sustainability of agricultural production.
• Challenges to manage soil health in new agricultural frontiers.
• Presentation of SoilBio Technology: inclusion of soil enzymes as part of routine soil analyses (SoilBio Technology) and calculation of Soil Quality Indexes (SQI)
• Public policies and initiatives to promote SH and carbon sequestration in Brazil.

Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture in Brazil is ideal for soil scientists, agronomists, and any other researchers in both academia and industry interested in building a sustainable future.

Our Journey Continues xi

An Ode to Brazilian Soil Health xiii

Foreword xv

Preface xix

1 Soil Health and Modern Brazilian Agriculture 1
Fabiane Machado Vezzani, Ibanor Anghinoni, Maurício Roberto Cherubin, and Ieda Carvalho Mendes

2 Integrated Crop–Livestock–Forestry Systems for Improved Soil Health, Environmental Benefits, andSustainable Production 19
Robélio Leandro Marchão, Ieda Carvalho Mendes, Lourival Vilela, Roberto Guimarães Júnior, Cíntia Carla Niva, Karina Pulrolnik, Kleberson Worsley Souza, and Arminda Moreira de Carvalho

3 Soil Organic Carbon Restoration as the Key Driver to Promote Soil Health in No-till Systems of theTropics 62
João Carlos de Moraes Sá, Telmo Jorge Carneiro Amado, Ademir de Oliveira Ferreira, and Rattan Lal

4 Cover Crops and Soil Health in Brazilian Agricultural Systems 103
Victória Santos Souza, Beatriz da Silva Vanolli, Bruna Emanuele Schiebelbein, Larissa de Souza Bortolo, Martha Lustosa Carvalho, Ieda Carvalho Mendes, and Maurício Roberto Cherubin

5 Soil Health in Sugarcane Production Systems 145
Maurício Roberto Cherubin, Felipe Bonini da Luz, Renato Paiva de Lima, Sarah Tenelli, Ricardo Oliveira Bordonal, Bruna Gonçalves de Oliveira, Leandro Carolino Gonzaga, Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri, and João Luís Nunes Carvalho

6 Soil Health under Arabica Coffee Plantations in the Cerrado Biome 179
Carla Eloize Carducci, Geraldo César de Oliveira, Samara Martins Barbosa, Yuri Lopes Zinn, Daiane Pereira de Souza, Clandio Favarini Ruviaro, Joyce Cristina Costa, and Eduardo Costa Severiano

7 Soil Health in No-tillage Vegetable Production Systems—SPDH 208
Jucinei José Comin, Fabiane Vezzani, Monique Souza, Claudinei Kurtz, Álvaro Luiz Mafra, Paulo Emilio Lovato, Cledimar Rogério Lourenzi, and Arcângelo Loss

8 Family Farming and Conservation Agriculture: Lessons from a Long-term Experiment on a Sandy Soilin Southwestern Amazonia, Brazil 236
Falberni de Souza Costa, Claudenor Pinho de Sá, Deborah Pinheiro Dick, and Ieda Carvalho Mendes

9 Soil Health in Brazilian Forestry Systems 266
Elke Jurandy Bran Nogueira Cardoso, José Leonardo de Moraes Gonçalves, Victor Lucas Vieira Prudêncio de Araújo, Antonio Marcos Miranda Silva, Ademir Sérgio Ferreira de Araujo, and Arthur Prudêncio de Araújo Pereira

10 Soil Bioanalysis (SoilBio): A Sensitive, Calibrated, and Simple Assessment of Soil Health for Brazil292
Ieda Carvalho Mendes, Guilherme Montandon Chaer, Fábio Bueno dos Reis Junior, Ozanival Dario Dantas, Juaci Vitoria Malaquias, Maria Inês Lopes de Oliveira, Marco Antonio Nogueira, and Mariangela Hungria

11 Challenges to Managing Soil Health in the Newest Agricultural Frontier in Brazil 327
Rodrigo Estevam Munhoz de Almeida, Henrique Antunes de Souza, Balbino Antonio Evangelista, Alexandre Uhlmann, Michele Ribeiro Ramos, Edvaldo Sagrilo, Tais Souza dos Santos Dias, Laura Resplandes de Sousa Paz Oliveira, and Nídia Raquel Costa

12 Public Policies and Initiatives to Promote Soil Health and Carbon Sequestration in Brazil 375
Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri, Francisco Fujita de Castro Mello, Natália Braga Renteria, and Maurício Roberto Cherubin

Ieda Carvalho Mendes, Researcher, EMBRAPA Cerrados, Planaltina – Distrito Federal, Brazil.

Ieda holds a degree in Agronomy from the University of Brasília and a Ph.D. in Soil Science from Oregon State University. She is a microbiologist and researcher at Embrapa, working at Embrapa Cerrados. In 1998 Ieda began working with bioindicators of soil health in the Brazilian Cerrados Oxisols. This work led to the development of soil bioanalysis (SoilBio). Since 2019, she is involved in capacitation courses for 80 commercial laboratories of soil analyses in bench scale individual assays to measure activities of beta-glucosidase and arylsulfatase. Ieda has given more than 70 virtual talks about SoilBio technology.

Maurício Roberto Cherubin, Professor, “Luiz de Queiroz” College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo (ESALQ/USP), Piracicaba – São Paulo, Brazil.

Maurício holds a degree in Agronomy from Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM). He has been a Professor in the Department of Soil Science at ESALQ/USP (Piracicaba – São Paulo, Brazil) since 2018 where his research focuses on soil management, soil health, soil carbon and ecosystem services. He created and leads the Soil Health & Management Research Group – SOHMA, and is the Vice Director of the Center for Carbon Research in Tropical Agriculture (CCARBON). In 2023, he was elected affiliate member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

A far-reaching survey showcasing the improvements made to soil health in Brazil

The maintenance of healthy soil resources provides the foundations for an array of global efforts and initiatives that affect humanity. Researchers, consultants, and farmers must be able to correctly examine and understand the complex nature of this essential, fragile resource. Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture in Brazil provides a highly readable overview of the major cropping systems and management practices adopted in Brazil to improve soil health and sustain agricultural/forest production systems.

Key Features

• Evolution of soil health concepts applied to modern agricultural systems in Brazil.
• Overview of the major cropping systems and management practices adopted in Brazil to improve soil health (SH) and sustainability of agricultural production.
• Challenges to manage soil health in new agricultural frontiers.
• Presentation of SoilBio Technology: inclusion of soil enzymes as part of routine soil analyses (SoilBio Technology) and calculation of Soil Quality Indexes (SQI)
• Public policies and initiatives to promote SH and carbon sequestration in Brazil.

Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture in Brazil is ideal for soil scientists, agronomists, and any other researchers in both academia and industry interested in building a sustainable future.