Environmental impacts in integrated production systems: an overview

Production systems that do not use environmentally sustainable practices are being pressured to change their production strategies. Conventional agricultural practices are associated with negative impacts, such as extensive land use, soil contamination, pesticide usage, and greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in environmental damage and resource depletion. To address this, integrated production systems offer sustainable strategies with numerous benefits including efficient land use, animal welfare promotion, carbon and nitrogen sequestration, improved microclimatic conditions, increased soil organic matter, and reduced erosion. These systems combine agricultural crops, livestock, and forestry, promoting ecological interactions and are common in small farms in developing countries, but can also be implemented in different regions and situations. This article explores evaluations of environmental impacts of integrated production systems, highlighting the ongoing interest in this field through a systematic literature review with the support of the Biblioshiny software as a research method. The literature has revealed barriers in the initial investments of these systems, as well as the need for adequate knowledge and management to ensure efficient integration of activities and scaled-up productions. Overall, future research is necessary to assess underexplored or unexplored categories of environmental impacts and inform effective policies for mitigating negative impacts and promoting positive ones.