By Maria Garcia
In search of a business model to accelerate the transition process of regenerative agriculture in Brazil, IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute), the Woodwell Climate Research Center and FDC (Dom Cabral Foundation) promoted, between August 20 and 22, a space for dialog to define the kick-off.
The “Workshop to Build the Tropical Regenerative Agriculture Index” brought together representatives from various sectors of society, including researchers, the private sector and the public sector, at the FDC headquarters in São Paulo. At the end of the workshop, a workflow was established to guide the process of building a scientifically-based index to start creating financial incentive mechanisms for rural producers who adopt regenerative agriculture practices.
According to Ludmila Rattis, a researcher at IPAM, Woodwell and a professor at FDC, the next steps involve workshops that, in addition to the more technical definitions, discuss the legal frameworks to cover these producers. “This was a space for us to define the indicators and it was necessary for the scientific to be the first discussion on the agenda. Now, we need to know how we can include these protocols in terms of access to public policies,” he said.
A concept under construction
Regenerative agriculture consists of a set of agricultural practices focused on restoring soil health, biodiversity and mitigating climate change. As Marcello Brito, FDC’s academic director, explains, these techniques have emerged as a direct response to the productivity model employed over the last 50 years. “The green revolution was implemented in a world that was suffering from a food production deficit and needed agricultural intensification. Now, it has left its mark and caused the degradation of more or less 35% of all agricultural areas in the world. This shows the exhaustion of the current model and the need for regenerative practices,” said Brito.
This alternative to the depleting agricultural model involves everything from soil management, such as no-till farming, nitrogen management and reduced tillage, to a new perspective on cultivation that values a more integrated relationship with nature – such as the inclusion of ecological corridors or the construction of systems that incorporate forest, crop and livestock areas in the same space. The set includes practices that can be applied to small and large-scale production activities.
Although regenerative agriculture does not have a specific concept or priority actions defined for tropical landscapes, a challenge launched to the workshop participants to develop, scientific studies already point to contributions to food production in Brazil. One example is the benefit of using natural predators that reduce pest populations and increase productivity, presented as one of the workshop’s theoretical foundations.
According to preliminary results from the GALO (Global Assessment from Local Observations) initiative, promoted by IPAM in partnership with Woodwell, any forest fragment or type of restoration, even if productive and through the planting of seedlings, already contributes significantly to agricultural productivity.
“Brazil has been developing these regenerative practices, but it hasn’t been enough. Faced with climate change and the intensive practice of agriculture, there are certain soil indicators that are being lost over time. So we need to promote this new Brazilian tropical agriculture that is transformative and changes paradigms,” said Renata Miranda, a researcher at IICA (Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture), one of the event’s co-organizers.