Sustainable intensification of cattle ranching in the face of climate change: evaluation of innovations through marginal analysis in a semi-arid region of Argentina

In a scenario of climate change and global food security requirements, it will be necessary to focus on "sustainable intensification" of agricultural production, which consists of producing more food with the same land area while reducing environmental and social externalities under a profitable production approach. One technology that should be reviewed to assess its potential for managing climate change adaptation and mitigation, and which is categorized as a process innovation according to the OECD Oslo Manual (2005), is creepfeeding. This practice, consisting in the strategic supplementation of calves during lactation, has greater impact in marginal environments with frequent droughts. This paper evaluates economically the marginal results of the adoption of creepfeeding combined with early weaning as an alternative option to traditional weaning in cattle raising in the semiarid southwest of the Province of Buenos Aires (SOB) in Argentina. A case study was carried out in an agricultural SME, applying sectorial Marginal Analysis techniques under a sustainable cost approach. The results obtained reflect an incremental profit, although with high sensitivity to changes in feed and calf prices.