Caívas are traditional silvopastoral systems that occur in the Araucaria Forest biome, Southern Brazil, in which animal production and erva-mate extraction are integrated. Participatory research was conducted in caívas in the Northern Plateau, Santa Catarina State, to identify strategies to intensify pasture use and increase animal productivity. To better understand the outcomes of these strategies, a sustainability assessment was conducted in properties that participated in the research (improved caívas; IC) and those that did not (traditional caívas; TC). The Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems (SAFA) tool 2.0.0 for smallholders was chosen as it evaluates the productive unit as a whole using environmental, social, economic, and governance indicators and is tailored for small-scale production. All evaluated indicators showed higher scores for IC properties in relation to TC. In general, the SAFA analysis showed that when evaluated as productive systems, TCs are a strategic option for rural development, as 65% of their indicators were evaluated as good. With the support of rural outreach and research and the adoption of appropriate technologies, this percentage increased to 86% in ICs. These results confirm that with adequate support caívas can significantly contribute to the development of more sustainable livestock farming in Southern Brazil.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of tree pruning on the incidence and intensity of the damages caused by cattle to 26-month-old Eucalyptus benthamii, in a silvopastoral system, in the municipality of Pinhais, in the state Paraná, Brazil. The experiment was performed in a randomized complete block design, with two treatments - livestock and forest with pruned eucalyptus (WP), and livestock and forest with unpruned eucalyptus (UP) - and three replicates, characterizing six types of damages and five damage intensities. There were significant differences between the WP and UP treatments for the different types of damages. Cattle entry in the silvopastoral system at 26 months after the planting of eucalyptus causes low-intensity damages to the trees, in the treatment with pruning, and medium-intensity damages to the trees in the treatment without pruning. Damages of stronger intensities were detected in the UP treatment, in which class-two damages (d2 = average damage) were verified in approximately 91% of the trees. The silvicultural practice of pruning E. benthamii trees does not affect the diameter at breast height or the total height of trees. Pruning can be recommended, as it does not affect tree development; moreover, this practice enables the production of knot-free, better-quality wood.

We proposed and evaluated a new approach (“Farm-school project”) to develop children's awareness about the role of people in agricultural production and environmental quality. The materialization of the “Farm-school” project was performed by a theoretical-practical 4-hour visit at an experimental farm. 240 Elementary school students were evaluated through concept maps and drawings, before and after the visit. There was a conceptual evolution in concept maps of 41 and 82%, and an increased number of categories per drawing of 23% and 37%. In concept maps, students did not relate people to the different spheres of agricultural production before the farm visit, but after, people became the main element. After the visit, students began to portray not only productive aspects in their drawings but also processes involving production, such as soil conservation practices and maintenance of mulch for soil cover. With the population concentrated in urban areas, there is a lack of contact with the rural landscape, generating a distorted view of food systems and rural land use, which affects social drivers and pro-environmental behavior. This imposes an educational task on governments to bring about information on agricultural production to elementary school students. We have proven the effectiveness of the “Farm-School” project as a low-cost educational policy alternative and a tool to increase children’s awareness about the role of people in agricultural production and environmental quality since students come to a better understanding of where food comes from and how it is produced.