Search

This paper aimed to analyze the relationships between the variables price, consumption and supply of electricity in rural Brazil and the different public pricing policies applied to the sector. To this end, an autoregressive time series model (VAR) and Granger causality are used, with data from the rural electricity sector, from 1996 to 2020, distributed quarterly. Among the contributions, it is observed that the policy of universalization of access to electrification can be considered a success regarding the number of consumer units reached, however, there is a need for a review regarding the pricing policies applied, since there is a bidirectional relationship, in which Production causes Consumption and Consumption causes Production, but Price does not cause Production, but causes Consumption. This is in line with the results of the VAR model which show that an increase in the price of energy in the Rural Zone would reduce its consumption, negatively impacting productivity, since energy is an important input for production and income in the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand the schooling / (dis) qualification of workers in the countryside and the city, with the arrival of agro-industrial complex in the western region of Santa Catarina, from the formal education of youth and adult, dedicated to training simple and part of the workers. The region has a dependent relationship with large agricultural industries, like Brazil Foods (BRF), Aurora and diplomat Industrial e Comercial Ltda. Using this approach, workers of the countryside and the city, experience a dialectical relationship of (dis) qualifications, opposite the agroindustrial capital. The reported text using the method of dialectical materialism, in which capital and labor are not separate but united dialectically in capitalist production. The study area comprises the town of Xaxim in the west of Santa Catarina, characterized by the presence of an agribusiness of birds, as well as significant trade and services sector, aimed to serve mostly the needs of the agroindustrial capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that the discourse of palm oil production for biodiesel constitutes a frontier ideology. Around it, the representation of space endowed with comparative advantages is reedited. To do so, it is based on data from the United States Department of Agriculture, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels, the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, and in company reports, as well as interviews with company representatives. In addition to the introduction and conclusion, in the first part examines the palm oil production, consumption and global trade, indicating that it is destined to the food, cosmetics and hygiene industry. The second shows the new frontier ideology promoted by palm oil at the beginning of the 21st century, highlighting the analytical pertinence of this category to interpret territorial dynamics of the Amazonia agrarian space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, agro-industrial residues are focusing attention worldwide as a new source of pozzolans; in Brazil one of the wastes generated from agro-industrial activities comes from elephant grass that is cultivated as biomass for energy cogeneration. The goal of this paper is to analyze the influence of elephant grass, once activated at 700 °C for 1 h in electric furnace, on the evolution of the hydration reaction as well as physical and mechanical properties in blended cement elaborated with 20% of elephant grass ash. For the present study, different instrumental techniques of characterization and methodologies (XRF, XRD, TG/DTG, mercury porosimetry, isothermal calorimetry and mechanical strength) were used. The results obtained in the present work show, that due to its high pozzolanic activity, the elephant grass ash activated at 700 °C can be used as an alternative pozzolan in the blended cement manufacture. Additions of 20% of ash confirm the formation of CSH gels and hexagonal C 4 AH 13 as main products from hydration as well as pozzolanic reaction. The 20% ash blended cement showed lower heat evolution than OPC and similar to the 20% silica fume blended cement, a 12% of reduction of compressive strength and an important reduction of pore sizes below 50 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature analyzing the spatial distribution of scientific and technological production in Brazil identifies differences in the regional distribution of scientific and technological resources. In this paper, we contribute to this discussion, by analyzing the dynamics of the production of new scientific knowledge in the states that contributed the most to national scientific production in the period 2000–10: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul, also known as the ‘scientific quartet’. Our hypothesis is that even with federal policies aimed at the expansion and decentralization of the production of new scientific knowledge, this production is still strongly anchored in the ‘scientific quartet’. We further identify a concentration of scientific production in three major areas of knowledge: agricultural, biological and health sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Greenhouse gas emissions related to food production in selected countries around the world in 2000, 2007, and 2014 were analyzed in this paper. In recent decades, many studies have suggested that greenhouse gas emissions mostly caused by agricultural production should be reduced. However, a low-carbon agricultural sector often involves a reduction in inputs, which may result in smaller production volumes. Nevertheless, the overarching goal should be to maintain food production at a sufficient level to meet the population's food requirements. Food production is particularly important in the context of the forecasted growth of the world population. In this situation, greenhouse gas emissions per product unit should be regarded as a key indicator that reflects the environmental sustainability level of production processes. Defined as such, environmental sustainability was examined across the entire food production system—referred to as agribusiness. This study calculated the emissions of major greenhouse gases related to food production and compared them to the GDP of agribusiness. The average ratio of the agribusiness carbon footprint to GDP in countries examined was nearly 2 kg of CO 2 equivalent/USD in 2000. This value kept decreasing during the study period, reaching 1.21 in 2014. A decrease in the ratio was recorded despite an increase in agribusiness greenhouse gas emissions, which validated the research hypothesis that an increase in greenhouse gas emissions from agribusiness does not necessarily reflect a decline in the environmental performance of agribusiness production. This is especially true for China and Brazil, whose greenhouse gas emissions related to food production increased considerably in the years examined in this study along with a clear decline in emission levels per unit of agribusiness GDP. This study is innovative, because the literature does not provide any similar calculations for the food production subsystem, especially regarding emission levels per production unit. This approach required the authors to integrate the calculation methods used in agribusiness production with those applicable to agribusiness greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, this study relied on consistent methods developed by the authors to calculate these values. The research adds to existing literature by calculating the carbon footprint for the entire food production system, and it argues that better environmental performance of agribusiness production can be achieved despite higher greenhouse gas emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a review related to the obtainment of cellulose from different structures in agro-industrial residues, both for application in the food industry and for the reinforcement of other materials. Cellulose nanofibers are produced by the heart of palm (Bactris gasipaes) industry in Brazil and are used as a stabilizer in avocado oil emulsions; conversely, cellulose nanocrystals are produced in waste from the tequila industry (Agave tequilana Weber var. Azul) in Jalisco, Mexico, and are used for reinforcement applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]