Brazil is an agri-environmental powerhouse and needs to participate strategically in the global energy transition. This was one of the conclusions of the Geopolitics and Governance panel of the 22nd Brazilian Agribusiness Congress, organized by the Brazilian Agribusiness Association - ABAG, in partnership with B3 - the Brazilian stock exchange, which was held this Monday, August 7th. , which was attended by more than 840 participants at the Sheraton WTC Hotel and more than 4000 internet users who followed the virtual broadcast.
“There is no going back to the transition to a green economy, but, like any change of this magnitude, there will be setbacks along the way. We can't let this fool us, these are just tidying brakes. Transitioning to a green economy is complex, laborious, with some measures more drastic and others less”, stated Roberto Azevedo (former director general of the World Trade Organization – WTO).
In his assessment, environmental policies redistribute a cost in the economy and necessarily make the production park more expensive and, to equalize the situation with the domestic market, there may be an increase in the price of imported products. He also commented that there is no investment in business in developed countries that does not take carbon emissions into account. “They themselves imposed disciplines and commitments on environmental issues,” said Azevedo.
Another important point brought up by Azevedo was the importance of having an integrated vision about this transition to the green economy, in order for the country to participate and help in defining the global regulatory framework. “We need to understand what direction the world is taking to enhance this contribution”, he considered.
Also moderated by Waack, the panel included analyzes by Paulo Hartung (executive president of the Brazilian Tree Industry – IBA), who said there were threats and opportunities for Brazilian agriculture. “The biggest threat to Brazil is to question a reality that we are experiencing in the world. The climate emergency is a challenge that predates the pandemic. If we look at reality, we will put together a flight plan that will allow us not only to face the challenges, but there is a world of opportunities for Brazil”.
According to Hartung, Brazil has a different energy matrix compared to the world, with constant sun and winds and notable experience with biomass in the process of evolution. “Yes, there are challenges, but there are a series of opportunities such as land that can be converted to food production without cutting down native forests.” In his view, there is a new arrangement in the world that, together with the energy transition and climate emergency, brings challenges to Brazil. “We need to have activism compatible with the size of the country’s potential, making the world know us for who we are.”
For Francisco Turra (former Minister of Agriculture and president of the Advisory Council of the Brazilian Animal Protein Association – ABPA), agriculture is the force on the chessboard within the scope of geopolitics. “The world should look to Brazil, a sanctuary in the field of food production. Brazil sells poorly and the actors involved, including Congress, need to participate more to promote bilateral agreements with the involvement of entities and powers and not individual tasks. When there is a failure, we all fail”, explained Turra.
According to him, “we have everything we need to offer better images of food production, clean energy production, and fuels such as biodiesel. Brazil needs to show incomparable conditions, with environmental responsibility and I am sure that, by changing narratives, getting more involved, discussing and selling more we will get somewhere with multilateral agreements on fairer conditions”.
Governance exists to provide reliability and innovation and is closely connected to the transparency agenda. For Grazielle Parenti (head of Business & Sustainability in Brazil and LATAM at Syngenta), focusing on governance means providing transparency and visibility to build credibility, showing the protagonism of agriculture and how the sector is strategic and sustainable. “Environmental and social criteria should be market standards and we need to talk about tropical agriculture to bring the conversation closer to the countryside and the city”, she considered, during the Governance and Perspectives panel at the 22nd Brazilian Agribusiness Congress.
In this sense, Ricardo Nishimura, president of the Board of Directors of Jacto, highlighted the importance of governance to harmonize and address fundamental issues for agriculture, in order to create a long-term purpose and move forward. “We need to bring this internal alignment to establish metrics and visualize what we want. Innovation, productivity, sustainability and producer profitability are variables that go together, but it is necessary to integrate agendas and talk about Brazil as a powerhouse in food production and the care that the country has for the environment”.
Paulo Sousa, president of Cargill, assessed the urgency of a vision focused on constant investments, a clear regulatory framework and predictability in relation to improving infrastructure. “We have a record harvest, but this raises some concerns such as the lack of storage and logistics that show us the sector’s needs”, he reinforced. In his view, despite the sector's importance in feeding the world, the country needs to resolve the issue of illegal deforestation, which harms the image of national agriculture in environmental terms, which can impose trade barriers. “We have had the Forest Code for 11 years, but we still talk about eradicating illegal deforestation by 2030.”
Nishimura also added that it is necessary to combat illegalities, certainly, but it is also necessary to advance in high-level governance, such as the sector and government. “We are an agricultural sector with thousands of small and medium-sized properties, so increasing good practices is essential, as pressure will increase”.
For Parenti, this narrative can also be changed with facts, which prove the productivity of Brazilian agriculture, with low carbon emissions and the application of regenerative practices. In his assessment, what has been done with the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) in São Paulo should be done throughout the country, as the evaluated registries provide transparency and legal certainty.
At the end of the 22nd Brazilian Agribusiness Congress, Luiz Carlos Corrêa Carvalho, president of ABAG, provided an overview of the event, which portrayed in the morning the issue of competitiveness, with a broad debate on innovation in markets and production chains and, in part of the afternoon, focused on governance as a fundamental point for maintaining the sector's positioning globally. “Brazil has developed tropical science, unlike other countries that have adapted temperate science and do not have the same competitiveness. We need to lead the way in regulating the carbon market in addition to food and energy production. Therefore, it is important to design a vision focused on this objective.”
The Ney Bittencourt de Araújo Award – Agribusiness Personality was awarded to José Luiz Tejon Megido, a journalist specializing in agribusiness, who received the award from Roberto Rodrigues, president of the Brazilian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ABCA). “Our responsibility in receiving this award grows when we realize that the realities of Brazilian agriculture are much greater than its perception. If you don't win hearts, you don't reach brains. There may be the best scientific and reasoned reasons, but if it doesn’t touch people’s hearts, there is no message conveyed,” he said.
Embrapa researcher Miguel Ivan Lacerda de Oliveira received the Norman Borlaug Award – Sustainability. “When we hold public office, we often sacrifice our personal lives. Behind this sacrifice is the belief that we are going to make a difference, that we are building something better for the world. It's a choice about donating, almost an act of faith. The small difference I make is together with people who believed in me and supported me,” he said. The tribute was presented by Evandro Gussi, president of the Sugarcane Industry Union – Unica.
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