Mapping slaughterhouse supply zones in the Brazilian Amazon with cattle transit records
Open accessAbstract
Mapping slaughterhouse supply zones is crucial for assessing cattle concentration, environmental impact, and promoting sustainable practices. This study combines cattle transit records (GTA in Portuguese) with rural property boundaries (CAR in Portuguese) to map these zones in the Brazilian Amazon. It evaluates the influence of Zero-Deforestation Cattle Agreements (CA) and explores the overlap between CA and non−CA slaughterhouse supply zones. Results reveal that CA slaughterhouse supply zones significantly impact forest preservation and cover a large area equivalent to entire municipalities. Over two-thirds of the study region, including most non-protected areas, falls within these zones. There is a high degree of overlap (95%) with non−CA supply zones, indicating competition for suppliers and limited expansion potential for CA. Direct and indirect suppliers are located nearby, with approximately 80% of indirect suppliers within 100 km of direct suppliers. Consequently, supply zones for both types of suppliers largely overlap. These findings demonstrate that assessing slaughterhouse deforestation risk for the entire supply chain in our study region can be achieved by mapping only the direct suppliers. This research provides valuable insights into cattle concentration, the effectiveness of zero-deforestation commitments, and the need for sustainable practices in the slaughterhouse industry.
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Nearly half of Brazil's cattle currently is reared in the Amazon-over 100 million individuals from a total of 234 million, a fraction larger than the entire US herd.
“Nearly half of Brazil's cattle currently is reared in the Amazonover 100 million individuals from a total of 234 million, a fraction that alone is larger than the entire US herd (Brandão et al., 2023;IBGE, 2025).”
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 Brandão et al., 2023
The Introduction reports 93 million cattle in the Brazilian Amazon in 2020, a herd it says matched—not exceeded—the entire US herd. It does not give an Amazon herd of over 100 million or a Brazilian total of 234 million. The 233 million heads in §2.2 are cattle movements recorded across 2013–2018, not a national herd count. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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Protected areas still used to produce brazil’s cattle
West, T. A. P., Rausch, L., Munger, J., & Gibbs, H. K. (2022) · Conservation Letters · doi:10.1111/conl.12916 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Self-citationCarvalho, R., Rausch, L., Munger, J., & Gibbs, H. K. (2021) · Land · doi:10.3390/land10101098 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
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Research works printed but not linked: 22
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Bastos Lima, M. G., & López, J. (2026) · World Development · doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2026.107532
- Authors
- Brandão Jr., A., Rausch, L., Munger, J., & Gibbs, H. K.
- Affiliations
- Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1710 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53726, USA
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Venue
- Land
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2023-09-14
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1782
- ISSN
- 2073-445X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4386743994
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1
- FWCI
- 0.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Land (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (2106-036, 2110-118)
- Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (2106-036, 2110-118)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Oil Palm Production and Sustainability
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Livestock Farming and Management
- Keywords
- deforestation risk, Brazilian Amazon, cattle supply chain, forest preservation
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