Brazilian Agribusiness Congress highlights Brazil's potential to meet demand for land by 2030

Brazilian agribusiness has the greatest potential to meet the demand for land by 2030, through technologies for recovering degraded areas. According to estimates by Mckinsey & Company, released at the 23rd Brazilian Agribusiness Congress, the world will need around 70 to 80 million hectares in six years, depending on the effects of climate change, which could increase the demand for area for more than 100 million hectares. The event is organized by the Brazilian Agribusiness Association - Abag, in partnership with B3 - the Brazilian stock exchange, and takes place this Monday, August 5th, in São Paulo (SP).

“This amount is almost equivalent to what Brazil currently has in planted land. Historically, this has already been done in the past, through plant suppression. Today, the reality is different: we need to reforest and to meet this need, there are other levers”, said Nelson Ferreira, senior partner and global leader of Agriculture at Mckinsey & Company. A survey by the consultancy with agricultural producers from around the world revealed that Brazilian agriculture is at the forefront in the adoption of biocontrol products and biostimulants, and regenerative agriculture practices, and that it has the potential to grow in precision agriculture, automation and remote sensing. .

Another point addressed by Ferreira was the Brazilian potential with biomass solutions for 2030, with around US$25 billion, and in 2040, with US$61 billion. In his view, it is necessary to discuss Brazil's role in these technologies, as agribusiness can add value, in addition to the issue of food, through new products, as in the case of biorefinery, always in an integrated and sustainable way.

opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the Brazilian Agribusiness Congress 2024 took place with a tribute to Rio Grande do Sul. Luiz Carlos Corrêa Carvalho (in the photo), president of Abag, reinforced the importance of the state for the country and for national agribusiness. Afterwards, he mentioned the importance of the event to discuss the main themes of the sector in a fragmented geopolitical scenario. “We will address the effective capacity of agriculture to compete with an increasingly protectionist world, in order to position our country in the face of opportunities and how we can take advantage of them. It is essential to increasingly act in an integrated manner in public-private actions, questioning unilateral measures and correcting erroneous concepts about the tropical world”.

He also discussed the pioneering action carried out by Abag, through the participation of ambassador Roberto Azevêdo, a consultant for the entity, in a meeting with American producers for an alignment, which can move towards a positive model of action in the Americas, to recover governance global in multilateralism. He also highlighted the importance of coordinated actions with the capital market, the cutting edge of science, technology and sustainable practices in Brazilian agriculture and the fight against illegalities that affect the sector and the country.

“The demand for bioproducts and bio-derived products is across all sectors. Therefore, we need an open dialogue, as agro-industrial producers can contribute to the climate agenda, COP 30, the carbon market and the correction of misunderstandings in the message, as the answer lies in productivity and innovation, with effective regulation. Agriculture forms alliances for a new world”, said Carvalho.

“São Paulo’s agriculture is technological, diversified and increasingly sustainable, with 300 different products. Therefore, we need to pay our respects to agribusiness”, said the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, who commented on what has been done by the state to overcome challenges of legal insecurity, logistics and financing, such as land regularization , investment in railway branches and increased funding for rural insurance, and to combat climate change.

Also raising issues linked to legal uncertainty and logistical difficulties, the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, highlighted the need for property protection and legal security to prevent land invasions. “From the gate to the inside there are productivity gains, but there are difficulties in transporting production. Privatization allows for robust investments in infrastructure,” he said. He also highlighted that it is necessary to increasingly advance in relation to the recovery of degraded areas, low-carbon agriculture and the preservation of biomes.

Gilson Finkelsztain, CEO of B3, emphasized that access to credit is essential for agriculture and that the Safra Plan is not enough to meet the sector's needs, which is why B3 is proud to make credit viable, through registrations on several fronts . CPRs registered with B3 grew by almost 40% compared to 2023, jumping from R$216 billion to R$296 billion in June 2024. CRAs grew by almost 30% in one year and reached R$142,20 billion in stock. In relation to Fiagros, today, there are more than half a million individual investors, a net worth of R$11,2 billion and an average volume of R$26 million traded daily. Finkelsztain also highlighted that the corn futures contract is the most profitable derivative, with 20 thousand contracts this year and 2 billion bags of corn in trading volume.

For Carlos Augustin, Special Advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Brazil has become the largest cotton exporter in the world, because it decided to certify the product, reaching 80% of certified production. He also highlighted that the country has the opportunity to recover degraded areas. There are 160 million hectares that can be developed sustainably and with certification to be competitive in global markets. 

Federal deputy Arnaldo Jardim gave a summary of the legislative agendas, such as the start of meetings on the Temporal Framework, the exemption from the basic food basket in the Tax Reform and the “Mover”, which portrays the commitment to the flex hybrid car. He also highlighted the role of biofuels for national competitiveness, the use of ethanol as a sustainable fuel alternative in both aviation and maritime, and agriculture as a pioneer when it comes to the bioeconomy. 

The opening ceremony also included the participation of Guilherme Piai (Secretary of Agriculture and Supply of the State of São Paulo), Antonio Mello Alvarenga Neto (president of the National Agriculture Society – SNA), Sérgio Bortolozzo (president of the Brazilian Rural Society – SRB ), Sueme Mori, (director of International Relations at CNA), and Tirso de Salles Meirelles (president of the São Paulo Agriculture and Livestock Federation – Faesp/Senar).