Emergy and fair trade assessment of soybean production and processing in Brazil

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the soybean agricultural production system and the subsequent industrialization processes in order to assess the environmental sustainability of the soybean chain in Brazil and, also, to evaluate the amount emergy exchanged in the soybean trade. Design/methodology/approach - The emergy accounting methodology was used as analysis tool in this paper. Findings - The main findings were, first, the distribution of emergy flows inputs according to soybean chain stages, being 94 percent used by the agricultural production system, 1 percent used by transport to industry, 4 percent used by crushing, and 1 percent for oil refining. Second, emergy indicators showed negative sustainability trends trough the soybean chain stages. Third, the emergy exchange ratio demonstrated that the soybean farmers are delivering around five times more emergy with the soybean sold that the emergy they are receiving with the money paid for it and, thereby, depleting its local natural resources. Practical implications - The agricultural production stage uses the highest amount of resources. Therefore, any improvement in the management of this stage will result in improvement of the whole soybean chain. In this context, the adoption of more sustainable soybean agricultural production systems becomes fundamental for the long-term environmental sustainability of the soybean chain. Organic production models and agro-forestry technologies should be used toward more sustainable soybean chain because it can help to decrease the dependence of the soybean production systems on external non renewable resources. Originality/value - Emergy accounting methodology provides a very comprehensive tool to complement and complete energy, economic and social information about the soybean chain in Brazil. The emergy exchange ratio provides information to access and enrich the discussion about soybean fair trade.