Are Agricultural Production and Forest Conservation Compatible? Agricultural Diversity, Agricultural Incomes and Primary Forest Cover Among Small Farm Colonists in the Amazon

— This paper presents an empirical analysis that addresses recent work seeking ‘‘win– win–win’’ scenarios for economic development, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. I focus on arguments for ‘‘productive conservation’’ in forest frontier regions, namely raising rural incomes while conserving the forest resource base. The analysis examines the impacts of agricultural product and income diversity on agricultural incomes and primary forest cover. The findings show that net of other factors, more diversified farms have higher agricultural incomes, but not significantly less forest cover. This finding is consistent with recent work in other study sites and suggests that initiatives promoting agricultural diversity can at least partially compatibilize production and conservation. 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.