More technology and inspection: visions that unite environmentalists and ruralists

When put on the table, the data bleeds: the advance of livestock, combined with the intense cultivation of soy, feeds on the Amazon forest. In other words, the forest becomes pasture.

The good news is that the way to resolve this harmful dynamic is a rare consensus between ruralists and environmentalists: the urgent adoption of state-of-the-art technology coupled with more efficient enforcement to enforce laws.

The dilemma to be resolved is land use versus preservation. A survey carried out by the Mapbiomas platform shows that, between 1985 and 2020, the agricultural area in Brazil grew by around 81 million hectares. And that 15% of the area of ​​the Amazon biome (approximately 63 million hectares) is currently occupied by agriculture. Livestock alone has advanced, in these 36 years, 38 million hectares in the Amazon — an increase of around 200%.

Corroborating these data, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) points out that 89 million heads of cattle, practically 42% of the entire Brazilian herd, are ruminating on the soil of the nine states that make up the so-called Legal Amazon.

Ruralists and ranchers point out that they are governed by strict rules and act as protectors of nature. Environmentalists, on the other hand, tend to blame the advance of agribusiness for the degradation of forests.

“Even with all this area already converted, and often to pastures with low productivity, the pace of deforestation has increased again in the last three years”, says the science manager at WWF-Brazil, Mariana Napolitano.

“Agribusiness needs to commit to a completely deforestation-free chain in the Amazon and other biomes, investing more in traceability tools to guarantee the origin of products and technology to make degraded areas more productive.”

The challenge seems to be this: to increase production using what is no longer forest. Political scientist Christian Lohbauer makes this point. A former Bayer executive, vice-presidential candidate for the Novo party in 2018, he currently heads CropLife Brasil, an association of agricultural input and biotechnology companies that routinely defends issues such as the use of pesticides and the release of transgenics.

“A look at agricultural history reveals that its growth is not based on illegality”, he argues. To illustrate, it resorts to data. Remember that the production of grains in Brazil grew five times in the last 40 years, while the planted area increased 1.7 times.

“And this calculation does not include coffee, sugarcane and orange crops. Even so, all Brazilian agriculture occupies less than 8% of the national territory”, he says.

For Fabio Feldman, senior political articulation consultant at the think tank Centro Brasil no Clima, this is not quite the case. “Agriculture is responsible for the suppression that it has carried out so far for the planting of soy, livestock and other crops. It is impossible to fight with satellite images, maps and reality”, he says.

“We cannot say that the entire Brazilian agribusiness is deforesting, because the entire Brazilian agribusiness is not in the Amazon”, says Marcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a network of civil entities. “But agribusiness is largely responsible for what happens to the forest.”

A member of the Brazilian Rural Society, lawyer Francisco de Godoy Bueno, on the contrary, sees agribusiness as a guardian of the forest.

“The land use and occupation legislation in Brazil is very restrictive and imposes on rural landowners the obligation to preserve forests in an absolute manner or through sustainable management plans. In the Amazon, in order to have one hectare of production, it is necessary to have another four for preservation, at least”, he points out.

“It is Amazonian agricultural production that partly finances the protection of the forest. Especially on land under private ownership or property”, he believes.

It mainly refers to the Forest Code of 2012. The legislation provides for strict rules for the maintenance of vegetation on rural properties. There are variables. The regulation, however, determines a percentage of legal reserve on properties — in the Legal Amazon, it corresponds to 80% of the property.

In addition to various environmental legislation, there are also agreements such as the soy moratorium, signed in 2006 between governments, agribusiness and environmental organizations. Under the pact, no one should buy soy produced in a region of deforestation in the Amazon.

In a balance released 12 years later by the Ministry of Agriculture itself, the results were visible: the annual average of deforestation in the 89 participating municipalities had dropped 85%.

If there is a framework of laws in place, inspection is inefficient. According to a survey carried out this year by researchers at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, there has been an emptying of the bodies responsible for punishing environmental crimes in Brazil since the election of President Jair Bolsonaro (no party).

As the researchers found, the average annual fines paid for environmental crimes between 2014 and 2018 reached 688. In the first two years of the current government, 2019 and 2020, this average dropped to 44. In total, there were about 5,000 cases per year. In 2019 there were 113. The following year, only 17.

Wanted by CNN, the Ministry of the Environment did not manifest itself. Agriculture sent a note (read below), in which it said that “it should be noted that we have a great challenge: to promote sustainable development in the Amazon biome”.

“As a large agricultural exporter, Brazil has a very clear perception of the role that agriculture can play in promoting economic development, social inclusion and positive environmental externalities. But we are also fully aware of how much the same agriculture is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and the resulting risks to the planet’s food security”, the text adds.

It’s agro, it can be tech

Now to consensus. In order not to lack food on the table and the agricultural trade balance to be favorable, and the Amazon forest to remain functional and preserved, the only viable solution seems to be technology.

Studies have already indicated that the effects of unbridled anthropic action on the forest are already reversing in harm to the agro sector.

One of them considers the ideal temperatures for the entire cycle of soy cultivation and compares it with what is already being registered in the region, with consequences for the productivity not being ideal.

According to the researchers, the rise in temperature is already causing soy production to yield US$ 100 less per hectare per year. Considering that 35.8 million hectares are currently dedicated to this monoculture, the account is US$ 3.55 billion.

If forecasts are confirmed, the possibility of the Amazon entering the so-called point of no return increases.

“Today it is possible and desirable to increase productivity in areas that have already been implemented without expanding on the natural habitats that are still preserved”, emphasizes Feldman.

“Based on the use of techniques and technologies, now widely used by the sector and demanded by consumers, the traceability and monitoring of production chains are essential requirements in agriculture and in the fight against environmental crime by governments.”

The recipe is ready. It remains to follow the way of doing it. “The adoption of technology, stemming from innovation and regulation is essential in the context of sustainability in the field”, agrees Lohbauer.

The president of the Brazilian Agribusiness Association, Marcello Brito, also defends this point. And remember that the agro sector cannot be generalized as a villain. “The same science that shows us opportunities and challenges also shows the strong increase in the ‘compliance’ of national agribusiness, one of the best in the world when compared to countries at the same level of development as ours”, he says.

“Agriculture is a solution to climate change, there is no longer any doubt about that statement”, argues Brito.

“But, naturally, I speak here of modern low-carbon agriculture, with practices of intensification, management, rotation, no-tillage, ILPF [lavoura-pecuária-floresta], SAFs [sistema agroflorestal] and another series of practices produced by the best science. What were once experiences in small spaces can now be seen on farms with thousands of hectares of plantations, or even in vast areas of carbon neutral livestock.”

“Science has already given us access to this knowledge, now it’s time for the sector to reinvent itself”, he adds. “The challenge will be how to spread these innovations to small and medium producers.”

Astrini adds that, in practice, it has already been proven that agriculture does not need to deforest to grow. “Between 2004 and 2012, Brazil experienced an 80% drop in deforestation in the Amazon and, in the same period, we either maintained or advanced agricultural production. Agribusiness is capable of increasing productivity with technology, without opening up new areas”, he emphasizes.

the part of each

Brito recognizes that it is necessary to fulfill homework. “Not necessarily [competentes] to the agribusiness chain, but to Brazilian society, which silently watches, year after year, the degradation of our biomes under a deafening silence”, he says.

He demands that each consumer consciously choose the products, to curb ecologically incorrect practices. And, of course, it expects political actions compatible with the needs of these times of environmental catastrophe.

“Every four years we have the chance to review our country project”, he comments.

“For young people who have had children or elderly people who have had grandchildren in 2021, it is no longer surprising to anyone that they will be alive and well in 2100 and, yes, they will see the next century. It’s not about leaving a better world for an abstract generation that we’ll never know, but for our loved ones, who now embrace us and form our family circle.”

“If this is no longer a sufficient reason for a new social behavior, it is because as a society we have lost the reality of what really matters: life”, he adds.

what the government says

A CNN it sought out the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment to comment on deforestation in the Amazon. Environment did not respond.

The Agriculture portfolio points out the ABC Plan as its main mechanism in this balance between agribusiness and preservation. “The ABC Plan is a world reference in public policy in the promotion of sustainable technologies and practices in the agricultural sector and was carried out from 2010 to 2020”, says the folder, in a note.

“For the next 10 years, the Plan has been updated. It is called ABC+ and intends to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1 billion tons by 2030, from the increase of areas that use sustainable techniques, the expansion of animal waste treatment and the slaughter of cattle using intensive finishing technology” , adds the text.

The note goes on to say that “ABC+, which this year received record resources in the Safra Plan, encourages low-carbon farming, conservation of natural resources, which, at the same time, observes the main environmental standards recommended in Brazilian environmental legislation” .

Lohbauer is one of those who praise the ABC plan, betting on the initiative as an effective means of adapting agribusiness to the context of the climate crisis. “In ten years, from 2010 to 2020, the plan has brought positive results”, he comments, noting that almost 50 million hectares in Brazil have already adapted to the model’s guidelines.

Other points highlighted by the note from the Ministry of Agriculture are the “actions of the Secretariat of Family Agriculture and Cooperatives (SAF), which encourage the adoption of technological solutions in production processes to promote the sustainable development of family farmers” and financial support for “various projects that Embrapa develops, based on the conception of bioeconomy activities, which also involve the adoption of agroforestry systems. Management of native açaí, cupuaçu, honey from native bees, piassava, are some examples”.

Reference: CNN Brasil

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