South American Sustainability
What can U.S. farmers can learn from a Brazilian producer group that uses science to build sound environmental policies? Plenty.
Jacqui Fatka
Published: Jul 15, 2010
"U.S. farmers have their issues with environmentalists, but it doesn't come into the ballpark of where we are in Brazil," says John Carter, an American ranching in Brazil and general director of the environmental group, Aliança da Terra.
What does this Texan know about Brazilian agriculture? Plenty, it turns out. Born in San Antonio, Carter did his undergrad at the University of Texas and later went through the TCU Ranch Management Program where he met his wife. Today he owns 24,915 acres of farmland in Brazil, with approximately 3,000 head of cattle.
More important, Carter's land in Mato Grosso is at the forefront of the battle between environmental and production agriculture forces in Brazil. As Brazil's leading producer of various foodstuffs (it supplies 8% of the world's soybeans), with its northern border along the "frontier" of the Amazon, Mato Grosso is at the center of the broader debate about economic development and environmental sustainability. Here land holders face almost insurmountable obstacles that include terrible roads and bridges, land invasions, wildfires, and a general lack of a government presence. Brazilian law requires that 80% of land stay in forest with only 20% allowed to be developed. However, land squatters often burn forests and claim the land for themselves.
John Carter, left in sunglasses, raises nearly 3,000 head of cattle in Brazil's Mato Grasso.
If that weren't enough, mass media has made production agriculture out to be the villain, supposedly destroying every tree that stood in its way. While that's certainly not the case, those who rely on the land know that the continued destruction of the Amazon River Basin and surrounding rainforest will be the death of Brazilian agriculture if environmentally sound practices aren't followed.
Main goal. Aliança's main objective is to fill a leadership vacuum between the environmental movement and the ag sector. Aliança works to create solutions for conservation that are economically viable and acceptable. And it could be a model for U.S. agriculture someday.
"Instead of meeting in board rooms, we went to the field and created our own certification system," says Carter, who has helped Brazilian farmers and landowners work for sound policies despite government corruption.
Partnering with IPAM (Environmental Research Institute of the Amazon), one of the most respected scientific institutes in the Amazon, Aliança da Terra formed a socio-environmental registry, "CCS." Land owners receive a complete environmental assessment of their properties in order to assist them in decisions that bind production with conservation.
The group currently has 305 producers on board in eight states throughout Brazil, and is also expanding into other South American and Latin American countries. To date over 6.7 million acres are in the project, and Carter expects that to double over the next two years.
World pressure. There is growing world pressure to create sustainable standards for how farmers should produce. And there also is more pressure on companies to do the right thing when it comes to environmental and social aspects of their business.
Fred Yoder (standing), Plain City, Ohio, with Carter (far right), on a visit to Brazil.
Many companies are "green washing," as Carter explains, putting a green leaf on a label and saying they're saving the planet - but really not doing anything.
Other companies are genuinely concerned and stepping up to the plate to pay for the costs of sustainability instead of passing those costs back to the producer. In 2008 Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) partnered with Aliança Da Terra to launch 'Doing It Right.' The program aims to increase farmers' profitability while reducing the environmental impact of their operations and helping ensure good working conditions for farm employees. Today, more than 580,000 acres are registered in the program.
Rabobank is another big company on-board with Aliança's missions, footing the bill to reforest land. Contractually the company becomes the owner of any carbon credits generated from the reforesting.
Producers could make back maybe 1% of cost to reforest, so an extra incentive is needed for producers to come into compliance with the law.
Smugness. Hailing from Texas, Carter notes U.S. has gotten a lazy cockiness -- a sense of smugness. U.S. producers have the mentality that no one can touch the U.S. in agriculture and that boycott and trade measures will always protect them, he says. "I was the same way before we moved here 14 years ago," he adds.
The U.S. is the dominant global economy, but it won't be that way forever. "Globalization is forcing change to happen for better or for worse. And our message is to be proactive," Carter says.
The human population needs more farmers to produce more now. "We're partners in this and we shouldn't be challenging each other. We feel we are brothers in arms in a race to feed the world in an ever growing population without straining natural resources," he concludes.
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Tagged: sustainability, farm, soybeans, ranch, ranching
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