Rafael Araujo Nacimento

@usp.br

Researcher at Department of Animal Science, School of Veterinary and Animal Science/ University of Sao Paulo

Rafael Araujo Nacimento


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https://researchid.co/rafaelnacimento
18

Scopus Publications

Scopus Publications

  • Integrating emergy theory and food security: An examination of the emergy exchange ratio
    Rafael Araújo Nacimento, Mario Duarte Canever, Fábio José Muneratti Ortega, Luiz Carlos Terra dos Santos, Regis Augusto Ely, et al.
    Ecological Modelling, 2026
  • Advancing the diagnosis of poverty traps: A regional application of Emergy Theory and the 5SEnSU model in Brazil
    Biagio F. Giannetti, Glauco A.do Nascimento, Luiz Ghelmandi Netto, Rafael Araujo Nacimento, Fernando J.C. Demétrio, et al.
    Ecological Modelling, 2025
  • Monitoring Brazilian Food Security Based on Emergy Concepts: A Proposed Approach
    Rafael Araujo Nacimento, Mario Duarte Canever, Luiz Carlos Terra dos Santos, Cecília Almeida, Feni Agostinho, et al.
    Resources, 2025
    This study enhances the discussion on food security by examining trade equity between food consumers and the supply chain from an emergy perspective. The objective is to develop a food security indicator for Brazil as a case study that provides a holistic view of the historical relationship (from 1995 to 2022) between the emergy and money received by consumers and the emergy and money supplied by the food chain. Each item in the Brazilian food basket was evaluated using the Emergy Exchange Ratio (EER) indicator, which measures the advantages and disadvantages that consumers and the food chain experience in their exchanges. The results indicate that processed food items such as oils and butter generally provide greater net emergy benefits to consumers compared to fresh food items like meat, bananas, tomatoes, and potatoes, which often favor the supply chain. Furthermore, the findings highlight that vulnerable populations face significant challenges in achieving food security due to their increased efforts to generate income relative to the emergy they receive for their social welfare. The proposed food security indicator reveals that consumers enjoyed a more balanced trade since the mid-1990s; however, this trend has recently begun to reverse, underscoring the need for policies that ensure fairer exchanges. This work contributes to discussions on food security by considering an emergy-based approach with the modified Emergy per Money Ratio (EMR) as a complement to traditionally used approaches.
  • Understanding nitrogen dynamics in the Brazilian beef industry: A comprehensive decadal analysis
    Vanessa Theodoro Rezende, Rafael Araújo Nacimento, Sher Ali, Gustavo Roberto Dias Rodrigues, Thiago Libório Romanelli, et al.
    Science of the Total Environment, 2024
  • Sustainability and Brazilian Agricultural Production: A Bibliometric Analysis
    Rafael Araujo Nacimento, Vanessa Theodoro Rezende, Fábio José Muneratti Ortega, Sylvestre Aureliano Carvalho, Marcos Silveira Buckeridge, et al.
    Sustainability Switzerland, 2024
    Agriculture is one of the most important industries in the world. In this context, the importance of Brazil as a strategic country to meet a range of SDG’s targets linked to food security, fighting against hunger, and poverty reduction is undeniable. This study aimed to highlight the production and dissemination of scientific research developed by Brazilian institutions, and to identify prominent authors and institutions based on articles related to sustainability, agriculture, livestock, and agribusiness. A bibliometric analysis was developed based on a sample of 3139 documents published between 2000 and 2022, comprising 21,380 authors that were then analyzed using the Biblioshiny package. As result, the term “sustainability” showed growth as it branched out to semantically similar terms, such as “sustainable agriculture” and “sustainable intensification”; and “crop–livestock integration” and “agroforestry” were highlighted as important in the development of future research. The majority of documents were produced by the University of São Paulo (~33%), the State University of São Paulo (~15%), and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (~11%), suggesting that their researchers could act as coordinators in future research through the formation of multi-collaborative groups to jointly lead to the participatory elaboration of public policies that promote more sustainable paths for agricultural production.
  • Hidden Costs Associated with Smallholder Family-Based Broiler Production: Accounting for the Intangibles
    Rafael Araujo Nacimento, Mario Duarte Canever, Cecilia Almeida, Feni Agostinho, Augusto Hauber Gameiro, et al.
    Sustainability Switzerland, 2023
    The contractual relationship between the processing firm and the broiler smallholder presents incessant conflicts of interest and inequality due to technical and economic discrepancies, leading to an undervaluation of the producers’ remuneration. This study aims to deepen the discussion on searching for a more balanced monetary exchange between processing firms and broiler smallholders based on scientific aspects. For this, the emergy theory and its concepts are used while considering a representative broiler production system at Concórdia, Brazil. The results indicate the importance of including cultural information in the emergy-based model calculation, which achieved the highest emergy contribution (~63%; transformity = 1.73 × 108 sej/J) for the broiler smallholder. On the other hand, the cultural information was not sufficient to increase the sustainability of the broiler production system. The results show an imbalance in the monetary exchange between the processing firm and broiler smallholder from both perspectives (the economic and emergy-based ones), which indicates higher values (USD 0.32/broiler and EmUSD 1.62/broiler) than the practiced payment value of USD 0.24/broiler. Evaluating the “(eco)cost” from an emergy-based accounting perspective recognizes that production depends not only on tangible physical resources but also on knowledge, skills and information (“iceberg of value” thinking). Policy and decision makers must therefore consider the promotion of public policies that subside initiatives, including social and environmental welfare programs.
  • Sustainability Assessment of Intensification Levels of Brazilian Smallholder Integrated Dairy-Crop Production Systems: An Emergy and Economic-Based Decision Approach
    Vitória Toffolo Luiz, Rafael Araújo Nacimento, Vanessa Theodoro Rezende, Taynara Freitas Avelar de Almeida, Juliana Vieira Paz, et al.
    Sustainability Switzerland, 2023
    This study aimed to evaluate the sustainability of integrated dairy–crop production systems by employing emergy and economic theory perspectives, and to identify strategies to improve the intensification of dairy production systems. A case study of a small Brazilian dairy production system (PROP) was created to assess dairy herd feed exchanges as a sustainability pathway. Three scenarios were proposed for the examination of a dairy production system: extensive (EXT); semi-intensive (SIS); and intensive (INT). The Interlink Decision Making Index (IDMI) was used to compare sustainability among them. The PROP demonstrated higher environmental performance than the other scenarios (ESI = 1.30, 0.65, 0.95, and 0.71, for PROP, INT, SIS, and EXT, respectively); however, PROP’s profitability was 1.6 times lower than that of SIS and INT, although PROP’s profitability was higher than that of the EXT scenario. Notably, the IDMI identified the SIS scenario as having the best sustainability among those studied. We concluded that the consideration of the energy contribution for feed ingredients yields a more equitable evaluation of environmental performance in integrated dairy–crop production systems, which leads us to propose the following suggestions: (i) target higher profit performance by changing extensive dairy systems to semi-intensive systems that utilize feed ingredients produced at the farm, and (ii) promote higher environmental performance by transforming intensive dairy systems to semi-intensive systems that are directed more toward maintaining environmental factors. In our view, public policies should focus on bonifications that upgrade dairy systems to promote and utilize best practices for dairy–crop integration.
  • Assessing smallholder farmers’ perception of value creation and appropriation in sustainable production
    Luiz Carlos Demattê Filho, Ícaro Célio Santos d, e Carvalho, Cecilia Mitie Ifuki Mendes, Rafael Araújo Nacimento, et al.
    International Journal of Environment and Sustainable Development, 2023
  • Sustainability comparison of commercial Brazilian organic and conventional broiler production systems under a 5SENSU model perspective
    Rafael Araújo Nacimento, Vitória Toffolo Luiz, Cecília Mitie Ifuki Mendes, Biagio Fernando Giannetti, Augusto Hauber Gameiro
    Journal of Cleaner Production, 2022
  • Can we obtain high productivity allied to environmental gains? An emergy-economic study of sheep meat production systems
    Danny A. Rojas-Moreno, Rafael Araújo Nacimento, Yuli A. Pena-Bermudez, Vanessa Theodoro Rezende, Gustavo L. Sartorello, et al.
    Journal of Cleaner Production, 2022
  • Sustainability assessment of commercial Brazilian organic and conventional broiler production systems under an Emergy analysis perspective
    Rafael Araújo Nacimento, Danny Alexander Rojas Moreno, Vitória Toffolo Luiz, Taynara Freitas Avelar de Almeida, Vanessa Theodoro Rezende, et al.
    Journal of Cleaner Production, 2022
  • Economic performance of highenergy diets and supplementation with chromium propionate or calcium salts of palm oil in ewes’ production
    Fernanda Ferreira dos Santos, Luciano Brochine, Rafael Araújo Nacimento, Flávia Mallaco Moreira, Augusto Hauber Gameiro, et al.
    Revista Brasileira De Zootecnia, 2022
  • Economic and environmental assessment using emergy of sheep production in brazil
    Beatriz Queiróz dos Reis, Danny Alexander Rojas Moreno, Rafael Araújo Nacimento, Vitória Toffolo Luiz, Laya Kannan Silva Alves, et al.
    Sustainability Switzerland, 2021
  • Suggestion for studying of short agro-food chains: Sheep-breading in Brazil
    Revista Em Agronegocio E Meio Ambiente, 2021
  • Cascade Effect of Nitrogen on Brazilian Soybean Production Chain
    Vanessa Theodoro Rezende, Thierry Bonaudo, Ricardo Barboza Alves, Rafael Araújo Nacimento, Augusto Hauber Gameiro
    Nitrogen Switzerland, 2021
  • Nutritional cost reduction and increase profitability in commercial broiler production using phytase superdosing
    Rafael Araújo Nacimento, Paulo Henrique Pelissari, Ulisses Rogério Toccheton de Moraes, Jane Cristina Gonçalves, Nick Wen, et al.
    Revista Brasileira De Zootecnia, 2021
  • Oleoresins from chili pepper and turmeric could substitute for salinomycin in broilers
    Rafael A Nacimento, Maria E G Moro, Viviane B Ferrari, Luís V Sanfelice, Paulo H Pelissari, et al.
    Revista Colombiana De Ciencias Pecuarias, 2020
  • How can nutritional strategies and feed technologies in pig production affect the logistical costs of manure distribution?
    Esther Ramalho Afonso, Rafael Araujo Nacimento, Julio Cesar Pascale Palhares, Augusto Hauber Gameiro
    Revista Brasileira De Zootecnia, 2020