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Cited by 22Livestock Farming and ManagementAgriculture and Agroindustry StudiesRegional Economics and Spatial Analysis

Regional expansion of the beef industry in Brazil: From the coast to the Amazon, 1966–2017

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Vale, Ricardo, Vale, Petterson, Gibbs, Holly, Pedrón, Daniel, Engelmann, Jens, Pereira, Ritaumaria, Barreto, Paulo·2022·Regional Studies, Regional Science
DOI 10.1080/21681376.2022.2130088
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Abstract

A regional approach to the study of Brazil’s beef industry is increasingly relevant as deforestation takes centre stage in policy debates worldwide. To what extent has beef production expanded toward regions hosting sensitive ecosystems such as the Amazon? Important data limitations remain to answer this question, especially regarding slaughterhouses, fundamental to the beef supply chain. This paper addresses the data gap on slaughterhouse location and history and provides novel regional analysis. We map the beef industry’s evolution into Brazil’s interior over the last six decades and quantify changes in market concentration between 2006 and 2016. To accomplish this, we triangulated across fiscal and animal sanitation data sources to produce the first longitudinal dataset with information on the opening and closing dates, locations, and production volumes of 2602 slaughterhouses. We show the linear movement of slaughterhouses and cattle herds to the Amazon by tracking their geographical centres of gravity. We also show the clustering pattern of slaughterhouses. Until the 1960s, all the geographical clusters were located south of the capital, Brasília. By the early 2000s, clusters north of Brasília were almost as extensive. Finally, we assessed the degree of market power that the largest beef-processing companies possess. The results indicate that market concentration increased in regions of more recent settlement further away from the coast, and that it remained relatively stable in states near the coast (Minas Gerais, São Paulo). The results shed light on the relationship between displacement toward the Amazon and Cerrado regions and economic concentration.

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  • Exponential growth over 40-60 years interiorized Brazil's cattle ranching, spearheading frontierization and deforestation.

    “That follows exponential growth that over the course of 40-60 years”

    From Beyond the “supply chain” framing: Cattle ranching as a vanishing mediator of deforestation and dispossession in the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon (2026) · cites this paper as Vale et al., 2022

    The Introduction describes cattle production moving into the Amazon from the late 1960s and calls beef-industry expansion a main driver of deforestation. The Results (§3.1; page unavailable) document the industry’s northward movement over decades, but describe that movement as almost linear; the copy does not establish exponential growth or explicitly say ranching spearheaded frontierization. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The increasing presence of large meatpacking conglomerates has been a key factor enabling pasture expansion ever deeper in the Amazon.

    “The increasing presence of large meatpacking conglomerates has been a key factor enabling pasture expansion ever deeper in the Amazon (Vale et al., 2022;Zu Ermgassen et al., 2024).”

    From Beyond the “supply chain” framing: Cattle ranching as a vanishing mediator of deforestation and dispossession in the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon (2026) · cites this paper as Vale et al., 2022

    The Results (§3.2) report that large meatpacking groups grew alongside slaughterhouse expansion into the Amazon. But the Discussion (§4.3) says cattle herds moved inland and their dispersion predicted slaughterhouse expansion; it does not establish that conglomerates were a key factor enabling pasture expansion. The Discussion also describes causal identification of deforestation predictors as a goal for further study. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Vale, R., Vale, P., Gibbs, H., Pedrón, D., Engelmann, J., Pereira, R., & Barreto, P.
Affiliations
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
  • Universidade de São Paulo (BR)
  • Imazon (BR)
Corresponding author
Vale, Ricardo
ORCID
Venue
Regional Studies, Regional Science
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2022-10-31
Volume
9
Issue
1
Pages
641-664
ISSN
2168-1376 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1080/21681376.2022.2130088
OpenAlex
W4307890520
Cited by
22
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3
FWCI
1.24
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Regional Studies Regional Science (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Direktoratet for Utviklingssamarbeid (1706-055)
  • Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (1810-02)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Livestock Farming and Management
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agriculture and Agroindustry Studies
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis
Keywords
beef industry, slaughterhouses, regional expansion, Amazon, Cerrado, market concentration, market power, cattle herds, deforestation, economic concentration

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