The document outlines Embrapa's strategic priorities regarding the sustainability of the sugarcane and bioethanol production cycle, emphasizing technological advancements and agricultural research. It highlights Brazil's unique position in producing competitive and sustainable ethanol from sugarcane, alongside the environmental impact and potential mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from such practices. Future challenges for Embrapa include improving soil management and developing new sugarcane varieties resilient to climate changes.

1. Sustainability of the sugarcane/bioethanol
production cycle:
A strategic priority at Embrapa.
Robert Michael Boddey
Research Scientist, Embrapa Agrobiologia
http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2006/12/17/sugarcane-against-the-blue-sky.jpg
Workshop on the Impact of New Technologies on the
Sustainability of the Sugarcane/Bioethanol Production Cycle.
Campinas, SP, May 15th, 2009
5/18/2009

2. Brazilian Agriculture: before the 1970s
 Low agricultural production and productivity
 Production concentrated in the South and Southeast
 Accelerating Urbanization
 Poverty in the rural areas
 Food shortages (crises de abastecimento)
 Lack of specific knowledge of Tropical Agriculture
 International markets in expansion
 Poor institutional infrastructure (agricultural research, education, markets,
communications, government institutions etc.)
The task: move from a traditional agriculture to one
based on science and technology.

3. The National System of Agricultural Research
Central administration
9 Thematic centres Labex EUA
13 Product centres
Labex Europa
15 Eco-regional
centres
Labex Asia
3 Special services
Embrapa Africa
17 State research
systems
Embrapa Venezuela

4. Embrapa: General Information
Established in 1973
Employees – 8,498
Scientists (total) – 2,153
Scientists (PhDs) – 1,615 (~75 %)
Budget 2008 – ~R$ 1.4 billion
Vinculada ao Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento

5. V Plano Diretor : Stategic Objectives
2008-2001-2023
SO4: SO5:
SO3: Contribute to the
Intensify the Explore the
advance of the
development of biodiversity for the
frontiers of
SO2: technologies for development of
knowledge and
Attain a new the sustainable use products with a high
SO1: competitive of the different added value for the
incorporate this
acquired
Guarantee technological biomes and the exploitation of new
knowledge in new
competitivity level in Agro- productive segments of the
and emerging
and integration of all market
energy and technologies.
sustainability of bio-fuels regions of Brazil
Brazilian
Agriculture
5/18/2009

6. Innovation and Technology: Tropical Agriculture
 Improved genotypes: Tropical Crops and
Livestock
Sandra Santos, Embrapa Pantanal
– Soybean (photoperiod)
– Maize/sorghum, P efficient, acid tolerant
– Tropical fruits and adapted temperate fruits
– - Zebu cattle, swine e poultry, etc
• Improvement of pasture quality
– Brachiaria (impacts on beef and dairy
production)
– Fibres and timber/cellulose (cotton, Eucalyptus)
Paulo Kurtz, Embrapa Trigo
5/18/2009

7. Innovation and Technology: Tropical Agriculture
 Biological nitrogen fixation
 Biological control of pests and diseases
Sitophilus zeamais
 Zero tillage
Paulo Kurtz, Embrapa Trigo
 Integration cropping/pasture/forestry
Fernando 2006
 Reduction of post-harvest losses
 Agricultural mechanization  Precision agriculture
 Agro-ecological zoning
5/18/2009

8. Innovation and Technology:
Actions with Economic Impact
Cassava (40 t/ha), beans, maize, soya ...
Paulo Kurtz Paulo Kurtz
Fernando 2006
Production systems and genetic improvement
5/18/2009

9. Innovation and Technology:
Actions with Social Impact
Aldeias: Jaguapirú and Bororó Cotton Solutions: Barraginhas, ...
Organic vegetable production Mini cotton mills Production systems
Targeted public: Family agriculture, Settlements, Traditional
and Indigenous Communities, Quilombos, ...
Technologies for small scale agriculture:
Programs: Mais Alimentos, Programa Balde Cheio, Septic tanks,
Programs for Seeds and seedlings, Production quality ...

10. Innovation and Technology:
Actions with Environmental Impact
1. Management, organization 2. Management and valorization 3. Integrated sustainable
and Land-use monitoring. and economic evaluation of systems for impacted areas
hydric and forest resources and for alternative uses
Ulisses Silva Image VCP
Image VCP
J.A. araújo Filho
Brazil: The only country in the World that offers 2/3 of its territory for preservation
5/18/2009

11. Innovation and Technology:
Conservation of the Environment
Castor oil crop
 Reduction in fossil energy inputs by substitution
of agro-chemicals by biological processes
(e.g. biological control of pests and diseases and
biological N2 fixation)
 Integration of the bio-energy and food crops
Dendê c/culturas intercalares’
Intercrops with African oil palm
Ricardo lopes et al., CPAA
Sustainable Agriculture for food and fuel
Ricardo lopes et al., CPAA
5/18/2009

12. Biofuels: Challenges and responses
5/18/2009

13. Expansion of the area for
Sugar cane production
Soil Plant Climate
 Traditional areas
 Areas of expansion
 Excluded areas
Production systems: criteria for sustainability
5/18/2009

14. Matéria-prima para etanol: cana-de-açúcar
“Of all of the liquid biofuels, only Brazilian
ethanol produced from sugarcane has
been consistently competitive in recent
years, without the necessity of continuous
subsidies”
 Report of FAO - UNO, on the theme:
“Helping to construct a world without hunger”
Rome, June 2008.
5/18/2009

15. Field N budget for a typical cane variety
growing in São Paulo State (burned cane)
 Yield 84 tonnes/ha
 Total N (kg N /ha/yr) in:
 Cane stems ……………………… 42 kg
 Trash/senescent leaves*………. 52 kg
Sugarcane and
 Flag leaves (left in field) ………. 62 kg maize with no N
fertilizer on sandy
 Total aerial tissue ………………156 kg
N-deficient soil
(Seropédica, RJ)
 Removed by burning and exported to mill … 94 kg
 Added as N fertilizer 65 kg N/ha
 Balance = minus 29 kg N ha (not counting leaching, volatilization and erosion
losses)
 Rainfall and dry deposition inputs estimated for Piracicaba as <9 kg N/ha#
*More than 90 % lost on burning
#Lara et al., 2003, Environ. Pollution 121: 389-399

16. Biological N2 fixation in Brazilian cane varieties
 1958 – Johanna Döbereiner & Aliades Ruschel find new species of N2-fixing bacteria
associated with sugar cane (Beijerinckia fluminense)
 1972 – N2-fixing (nitrogenase) activity detected associated with sugarcane roots (Dart,
Day Döbereiner)
 1974 – Day and Döbereiner, discovery of Azospirillum spp. associated with sugarcane
(etc.).
 1987 and 1992 – N balance and 15N-enriched fertilizer studies show large contributions
of BNF to sugar cane in pots and a large tank (20 x 6 m – Lima, Urquiaga, Boddey,
Döbereiner)
 1986 – 1988 Discovery of two new “endophytic” N2 fixing bacteria – Herbaspirillum
seropedicae and Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus (Baldani, Cavalcante, Döbereiner).
 2001 – On-farm studies with 15N natural abundance show different cane varieties on
different plantations able to obtain between 0 and 60¨% of their N from BNF (Boddey,
Polidoro, Alves, Resende, Urquiaga).
 2008 – Complete genome sequenced of G. diazotrophicus (FAPERJ) and Herbaspirillum
seropedicae (UFPR et al.).

17. Contribution of biological N2 fixation to different
sugarcane varieties determined with 15N isotope dilution
and N balance*
35
N from N2 fixation
30
N accumulation (g N m )
N from soil
-2
25
20
15
10
5
0
um
3
2
50
99
9
9
i
-3
er
14
31
-8
-7
45
-1
-7
rb
ne
47
56
-1
-2
52
71
ba
CB
70
79
ta
CB
NA
C
SP
on
S.
SP
SP
IA
sp
Sugarcane variety
S.
*Data from Urquiaga, Cruz & Boddey, 1992, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56:105-114

18. Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Emission of GHGs during a journey of 100 km run by the same
vehicle using three different fuels*
Avoided
Consumption Maximum GHGs
Model Motor Fuel emission
Km/L power kg CO2
(%)
S10 single
2.8 turbo Diesel 13.5 140 CV 29.69 --
cabin
S10 single 2.4
Pure gasoline 10.4 141 CV 35.10 0
cabin flexpower
Brazilian
S10 single 2.4
gasoline 9.5 141 CV 28.34 19
cabin flexpower
(24% etanol)
Ethanol
S10 single 2.4
(sugarcane, 7.2 147 CV 6.92 80
cabin flexpower
Brazil)
The vehicle running ethanol from sugarcane emits only 20 % of the
GHGs which it would emit using pure gasoline
OR
The use of Brazilian bioethanol promotes a mitigation of 80 % of the
GHGs emitted when the same distance is covered using pure gasoline

19. Impact of GHG emissions of biological
nitrogen fixation
Today a mean of approximately 60 kg N fertilizer are applied per ha of
sugarcane. The manufacture, transport and application of this quantity
of N fertilizer emits 270 kg CO2eq.
On application to the soil, IPCC estimates that 1 % of the N (600 g) is
emitted as N2O, equivalent to an emission of 292 kg CO2.
Thus the total GHG emission = 562 CO2eq.
Nearly all other countries in the world use between 150 and 200 kg N
fertilizer per ha. So BNF saves Brazil an emission from ~120 kg N (1100
kg CO2eq) which would increase total GHG emission by 33 %.
If further advances in BNF research results in the complete elimination
of N fertilizer then present GHG emissions will be reduced by 17 %.
* Manufacture, transport and application of 1kg N fertilizer emits 4.5 kg CO eq of GHGs (IPCC, 2006)
2

20. Impact of change from burned cane to green-cane
harvesting
Usina Cruangi, Timbauba, PE*
Increase in soil C
stocks on change to
100 green cane harvesting
Cane burned
Trash conserved Rainfall (mm) 1800 = ~300 kg C ha-1 yr-1
80 aa a over 16 years
Mean cane yield (Mg ha -1 )
a 1600
a
1400
Rainfall (mm)
a
a
60 a b a 1200
a a
a b 1000
a a
a b b a a
40 b 800
b
b
a 600
20 b 400
200
0 0
1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000
Year
*Resende et al., 2006, Plant Soil 281: 337-349

21. Comparison of emissions of GHGs from the manual
harvesting of burned cane with the mechanized harvest of
green (unburned) cane
Emission source Emission
CH4 N2O Fossil CO2 Total
(g ha-1) (g ha-1) (kg ha-1) (kg eq.CO2 ha-1)
Manual harvest, burned cane
1. Cane burning 28,350a 735b - 1,865
2. Manual labour and transport - - 328 328
TOTAL 2.193
Mechanized harvest, green cane
1. Fuel for harvester (diesel) 5.7 1.1 141 142
2. GHGs for machine fabrication . - - 5 5
3. Manual labour and transport 152 152
4. Mineralization of residues 471.4 146
TOTAL 445
a
Based on IPCC (2006) methodology for the burning of 13.1 Mg ha-1 of agricultural residues at 80 % efficiency (2.7
kg CH4 Mg-1 burned).
b
Based on IPCC (2006) methodology for 13.1 Mg ha-1 of sugarcane residues (0.07 kg N2O Mg-1 burned).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At present ~60% of cane is burned for manual harvest. If burning is completely
replaced by mechanized green cane harvesting the mitigation of GHG
emissions increases from 80 to 87%

22. Impact of GHG emissions on conversion of
land to sugarcane production
1 ha of sugarcane produces today ~6,500 Litres of ethanol which will
fuel a journey by a pickup fuelled by 2.4 L flexfuel motor approximately
46,800 km. This distance requires 4,500 L if pure gasoline is used.
The total emission of GHGs (N2O, CH4 & fossil CO2) by the 6,500 L of
ethanol = 3,300 kg CO2eq.
The total emission of GHGs by 4,500 L of pure gasoline = 16,430 kg
CO2eq
Thus the total avoided emissions (“Carbon sequestration”)
of 1 ha of sugarcane used for bioethanol production =
13,200 kg CO2 ha-1 (3.6 Mg C ha-1) year-1.

23. Impact on GHG emissions of conversion of
land to sugarcane production
A low productivity pasture grazed at 0.7 animal
units (AU) ha-1 is estimated to emit 2,840 kg
CO2eq ha-1 year-1 (principally CH4 from rumen
and N2O from urine etc.). If there is no change
in soil C stocks the change in GHG emissions
is from pasture to sugar cane 2,840 to 3,300
kg CO2eq.
For the change from soybean/ maize cropping
to sugarcane the extra GHG emission
becomes 3,300 - 1,720 = 1,580 kg CO2eq.
When land under crops or pastures is
planted to sugarcane the extra GHG
emissions are unlikely to exceed 1.5 Mg
CO2eq year, which is minor compared to
the mitigation (>13 Mg ha-1 yr-1) promoted
by bioethanol production

24. Sugarcane
Research challenges of the Future: Embrapa´s role
- Improvement of soil management, fertilization, irrigation and control of plant
insect and diseases.
- New sugar cane varieties produced for their tolerance to hydric deficit and
salinity through traditional plant breeding techniques or biotechnology (GMs).
- Isolation and selection of cellulolytic microorganisms efficient for the hydrolysis
of cellulose for ethanol production from bagasse and crop residues.
- Monitoring of the impact of the use of residues of the ethanol industry in the soil
C stock and GHG emission.
- Optimization of the contribution of biological nitrogen fixation to sugar cane
crop, selecting efficient varieties for different climatic conditions.
- Understanding of the functional genome of diazotrophic bacteria in the sugar
cane crop.
- Optimization of the production of sugar cane in the North and North-East of
Brazil.

25. Regional motivations for the production of
biofuels
North Northeast
- Exploitation of local species - palms,
babaçu, ... - Castor oil production by small
holders – family agriculture
- Recovery of degraded areas
- Generation of electricity in - Introduction of other energy
remote areas of difficult access crops - e.g. Jatropha
- Boat fuel - Integrated crop/pasture/forestry
production (ILPF)
Agroenergy
Central-west South/southeast
-
- Exploitation of abundant soybean oil - Improvement of air quality in
urban areas by the substitution
- Area for the expansion of sugar cane
of diesel by biodiesel
and other energy crops
- Exploitation of soybean and other
oils produced in the region
- Reduction in costs of grain transport to the
coast substitution of fossil diesel by biodiesel - Integrated crop/pasture/forestry
- Integrated crop/pasture/forestry production (ILPF) production (ILPF)

26. Obrigado!
5/18/2009

27. More information from
bob@cnpab.embrapa.br
Recent publications available on-line
 1. Soares, L. H. B.; Muniz, L. C.; Figueiredo, R. C.; Alves, B. J. R.; Boddey, R.
M.; Urquiaga, S.; Madari, B. O.; Machado, P. L. O. A. Balanço energético de um
sistema integrado lavoura-pecuária no Cerrado. Seropédica, RJ: Embrapa
Agrobiologia, 2007, 28p. (Embrapa Agrobiologia, Boletim de Pesquisa e
Desenvolvimento, 26). Disponível on-line em:
http://www.cnpab.embrapa.br/publicacoes/download/bot026.pdf
 2. Soares, L. H. B.; Alves, B. J. R.; Urquiaga, S.; Boddey, R. M. Mitigação das
emissões de gases efeito estufa pelo uso de etanol da cana-de-açúcar
produzido no Brasil. Seropédica, RJ: Embrapa Agrobiologia, 2009, 14p.
(Embrapa Agrobiologia, Circular Técnica, 27). Disponível on-line em:
http://www.cnpab.embrapa.br/publicacoes/download/cit027.pdf