Impact assessment of the technological reference unit (URT) for the adoption of integrated sustainable production systems in state of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Abstract

The technological reference unit (URT) is a technology transfer (TT) modality that demonstrates a practical application of the crop-livestock integration (ILP) system, and one of its expected impacts is an increase in the adoption rate of integrated systems. This study evaluated the impact of the URT in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, using the difference-indifferences model with staggered entry and the Callaway & Sant’Anna (2021) estimator, which combines inverse probability weighting with regression adjustment, ensuring robust estimates. The results indicate that the presence of the URT increased the area allocated to ILP in municipalities with URT by approximately 11 thousand hectares, and by an additional 3,300 hectares when neighboring municipalities were included, although the latter impact was not significant. It is concluded that the presence of the URT contributed significantly to the expansion of the ILP area in the studied municipalities, confirming the effectiveness of this technology transfer modality in promoting sustainable production systems.