Advancement of agricultural activity on natural vegetation areas in national agribusiness capital

Abstract

The municipality of Sorriso-MT has become the largest grain producer in the country in the last 40 years, which has caused important economic, social and local changes. Thus, we seek to analyze and understand the dynamics of these transformations. We evaluate the growth of agricultural activity in the Municipality, the reduction of areas of natural vegetation and relate the growth of production with aspects of economic and social development. In order to verify the temporal transformations in the landscape, maps of soil occupation were elaborated from satellite images, in a five-year time scale (1985 to 2015). In 2015, 24.97% of the area of the Municipality covered by natural vegetation. Soy is the main crop, present in 68.6% of the area of the Municipality. If, on the one hand, agricultural activities generate taxes that are fundamental to municipal obligations, on the other hand, they also generate relevant socioenvironmental impacts.