Intensive and extensive systems of beef production in the Mexican tropics were analyzed. The aim of the
study was to estimate and compare the environmental impact of two typical beef production systems
in Veracruz, Mexico. A system boundary was established from farm production to prior to transport for
consumer consumption, including intermediate stages of product processing, marketing and transportation.
The functional unit was 1 kg of boneless and fatless beef. The life cycle inventory was built using
information from case studies; farmers, slaughterhouses and retail point managers who provided information
from records and expert knowledge were interviewed. The study included cow-calf processes,
pre-fattening, fattening, processing and retail. Several impact categories were analyzed using SimaPro
software and the ReCiPe Midpoint method for impact characterization. The results showed that for the
extensive system, the cow-calf stage is the major contributor in eleven of the twelve impact categories
analyzed, while in the intensive system, it is the main contributor to the climate change, terrestrial acidification,
freshwater and marine eutrophication. The fattening stage of intensive system, has a predominant
impact on human toxicity, water depletion, terrestrial ecotoxicity, fossil depletion, photo-oxidants formation,
freshwater ecotoxicity and marine ecotoxicity; the processing stage has relevant contributions to
fossil fuel depletion and the formation of photochemical oxidants in intensive systems. Finally, the marketing
stage did not have a predominant impact on any category. The results indicated that the extensive
system has better environmental performance than the intensive system for nine of the twelve studied
categories. According last, it is important to improve the reproductive performance in calf breeding
herds to mitigate emissions in the beef production chain as well as to improve livestock food quality in
the extensive system for the mitigation of GHG emissions due to enteric fermentation.