How the project works
The collaboration between TNC, Walmart Brazil and Marfrig Group will initially last three years. The actions planned are detailed below:
1) Support for ranchers
What: With the support of Walmart Brazil and Marfrig Group, TNC will encourage adherence and offer technical information and support to all rural producers in the municipalities of São Félix do Xingu and Tucumã that want to comply with environmental legislation (e.g., obtaining their Rural Environmental Registration and/or Rural Environmental License) and improve their pasture management practices to reduce impacts on the soil and increase productivity.
Why: This is the most efficient way to ensure compliance with the Forest Code, which creates environmental benefits on cattle ranches and ensures a broad network of beef suppliers that comply with all legislation.
How: a) Specially hired technicians will instruct rural producers on how to comply with the legal requirements for obtaining their rural environmental registration and license and how to adopt best practices for water and soil use.
b) The technicians will also be responsible for the information on advantageous rural credit lines for ranchers wanting to adopt more sustainable practices, thereby making the new model of responsible production more economically viable. The specialists will also provide information on alternatives for income generation obtained from standing forests, such as practices for enriching the forests with species with economic value.
c) The organizations will build forest restoration models. For this, the project’s technicians will provide guidance on recovering deforested areas in 20 pilot properties (10 in Tucumã and 10 in São Félix) in the first year of the project and, based on the results obtained and cost-benefit analyses, will offer producers throughout the region local and concrete examples of how to bring forests back to life on the degraded areas of their ranches.
d) TNC, Walmart Brazil and Marfrig Group will also organize pilot areas for initiatives to increase beef cattle productivity through better pasture management to ensure local producers can expand their production without deforesting new areas. These examples can then be replicated by ranchers throughout the region, making changes possible on a large scale.
e) Working together with local governments and ranchers’ associations, the organizations will also train employees at the environmental departments of the two municipalities to expand the local government’s capacity to serve rural producers interested in complying with environmental legislation.
2) Monitoring production
What: TNC, Marfrig Group and Walmart Brazil will work to improve the system used to monitor production areas based on analysis of satellite imagery and to update the region’s geographic database.
Why: Satellite images can be used to monitor deforested areas and the ways in which private properties are being used. With this information, Marfrig Group will know which ranchers are working responsibly and maintain its commitment not to purchase cattle from properties that do not comply with environmental legislation.
How: The organizations have already worked for years using satellite monitoring, which has generated considerable learning on the subject. With the start of the project, they will combine their experiences and knowledge in evaluating images and monitoring production in order to produce even more accurate and up-to-date data on the region.
3) Beef tracking until the final consumer
What: TNC, Walmart Brazil and Marfrig Group will increase the accuracy of their tracking systems in the region, allowing companies to offer final consumers a greater transparency as to the origin of beef produced in the Amazon region.
Why: The path taking beef to the consumer’s plate is a long one. On the giant scale of the Brazilian market, it is only through the use of a system that integrates the various links of the production chain that it is possible to identify the origin of the meat and expand the possibilities for conscientious consumption.
How: Walmart Brazil and Marfrig Group already actively use beef tracking systems. TNC also has expertise in monitoring rural properties and the capacity to identify the productive potential of these ranches. The organizations will exchange information and cross reference data to further refine their capacity to track beef from one end of the chain to the other. Walmart Brazil and Marfrig Group will also provide their consumers with information on the origin of the beef produced in this region. This process will open up a new opportunity for responsible shopping by consumers, who will be able to strengthen the adoption of responsible cattle production in the Amazon Region.
