Deforestation: Tracking cattle puts pressure on government and companies – 05/19/2023 – Environment

The pressure to implement measures to track livestock to curb deforestation linked to livestock has been gaining ground in the federal government and in the sector in the country. One of the points of concern, the law that prohibits the sale in Europe of products derived from deforestation was ratified at the European Council on Tuesday (16).

European legislation is the beginning of a movement that tends to consolidate itself in the market and put pressure on meat producing countries, such as Brazil, according to specialists interviewed by the Sheet.

The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Carlos Fávaro, has said that there is no solution outside of screening, while criticizing the adoption of unilateral measures such as that of the European bloc. While there is no definition on who will manage traceability, the industry is rushing to advance in mapping indirect supply chains, and producer representatives defend benefits for those who adopt these practices.

Crossing information on the transport of animals with data from the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry), for example, is a way of verifying whether the farms that raise cattle and sell to the industry follow the law, without illegally deforesting or invading protected areas.

According to Mapa (Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock), however, there is still no integration work between the folder and the MMA (Ministry of Environment and Climate Change) to analyze the data together. The CAR, specifically, is in dispute between the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and the ruralist caucus, which wants to take the instrument, currently in the Environment, back to the Map.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock also argues that the control and tracking systems for the cattle herd serve for sanitary control. The use for environmental inspection, in the ministry’s view, needs to be discussed with the sector. Companies that work with exports have been pressing for the government to make this combination.

Today companies have their own initiatives, in contact with direct and indirect cattle supply chains. But avoiding connection with invaded and deforested areas in the Amazon is not a simple or outdated issue.

Commitments dating back more than a decade have not yet been able to prevent sector giants such as JBS, Marfrig and Minerva from being accused of buying cattle from farms with illegal forest clearing.

Traceability is divided into two fronts. The most expensive, and which would take more time, is the individual one, using earrings or chips to identify the animals. The other, pointed out as a tool for the short term, is the GTA (Animal Transit Guide), used for sanitary control, which maps the path of a lot of cattle.

According to Isabella Freire, co-director of Proforest for Latin America and member of the Coalizão Brasil Clima, Florestas e Agricultura, the country could invest in a middle ground, to encourage producers to adopt screening.

She suggests carrying out individual identification in more critical areas, to separate those who have good practices from the group that contaminates production with cattle of illegal origin, and encourage mapping by batches in regions with fewer problems.

“Today we are very much in the dark. Sometimes, by contaminating a batch, a much larger number of regular cattle are harmed”, he assesses.

The Coalition made contributions to a MAPA consultation on traceability, which ended earlier this week, the result of which has yet to be released.

For Paulo Barreto, an associate researcher at Imazon, the government already has tools to cross data from producers with possible areas of deforestation and could push for tracking by limiting credit with the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development) of those who do not respect the law. .

“The question is: why doesn’t this move forward?”, he says. “In large part, because there is resistance from farmers. The industry is saying that survival depends on it. [rastreabilidade], to sell and have financing and credit. The part that doesn’t want it has an environmental problem, ownership, and possibly tax problems. You have reason to refuse.”

According to the CNA (Confederação da Agricultura e Pecuária do Brasil), convincing needs to give the producer a clear idea of ​​what he gains by tracking the herd. For this, the entity defends a minimum period of eight years to implement the screening, whose adhesion must be voluntary.

The group also wants to manage the control and distribution of cattle numbers, without making the data available to the public. The proposal was one of those submitted for consultation at the Beef Sectorial Chamber, which should present a proposal to the Ministry at the end of May.

Fávaro has signaled with ease of access to credit with lower interest rates for those who adopt screening, as a kind of reward.

According to the executive secretary of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, João Paulo Capobianco, 85% of the properties in the Amazon registered in the CAR do not show legal or illegal deforestation.

Among the properties that deforest, 2% of them, according to Capobianco, concentrate two thirds of the total deforested. “We are demonstrating that it is condensed, feasible for a restraining action when it is illegal and also for convincing, offering alternatives so that owners are convinced of the opportunities with protection.”

Capobianco’s statement, number two in the portfolio led by Marina Silva, was given at a Marfrig event in São Paulo at the end of April.

The company claims to have monitored 100% of direct suppliers —around 8,000— since 2010. Regarding indirect suppliers, it claims to have reached 80% in the Amazon and 74% in the Cerrado, with complete tracking in areas at risk of deforestation. The plan, according to Marfrig, is to complete this practice in the chain by 2025.

JBS claims that it monitors its 73,000 direct suppliers using satellite images and public databases, and that 12,000 producers are blocked for failing to comply with some of the company’s criteria.

For indirect suppliers, the company uses a platform to register suppliers. As of January 1, 2026, says JBS, only registered suppliers will be able to do business with the company.

Minerva, on the other hand, claims that it monitors 100% of direct suppliers in Brazil and Paraguay, and 90% in Colombia, with a goal of reaching the total by December. In Argentina, with the current 90% monitored, according to the company, the goal to reach 100% is 2030. In Uruguay, the index is at 20%, with forecast of totality in 2025.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}