Cattle farming with zero deforestationin the Amazon of Mato Grosso.

The Novo Campo ProgramIn 2012, the Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV) decided to tackle the challenge of testing, in practice, a new model for cattle ranching in the Amazon based principally on the construction of a strategy that develops the production chain with zero deforestation.

The embryo was born from a pilot project on the promotion of good agricultural practices for beef production, developed by ICV and its partners in the Alta Floresta region in the north of Mato Grosso state, its fourth largest livestock production region. The aim was to reduce the impact of the activity in the natural resources, focusing on reducing deforestation, land degradation and greenhouse gas emissions.

To achieve this, a new model was tested in an integrated property management with interventions based on the application of Embrapa´s Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) for beef cattle.

Over two years, the results showed that the model was feasible and there was a strong improvement in productivity, profitability, production quality and environmental sustainability.

The main results in the pilot phase were:

Profitability

Property'sproductivity

Reduction ofthe slaughter age

Weight increase and carcass quality at slaughter

Profitability increased significantly when compared with a traditional, conventional system. Overall farm

average

R$ 680per Ha

Intensifiedarea

R$ 975per Ha

Conventionalsystem

R$ 100per Ha

180 kg with 0 to 1 mm of fat

Overall farm average– pilot phase

200 kgwith 2 e 3 mm of fat

Bussines asUsual BaU

Bussines asUsual BaU

Bussines asUsual BaU

Overall farm average– pilot phase

Overall farm average– pilot phase

Females

34months

Males

44months 24

months

30months

GAPs

323

Mato Grosso Alta Floresta GFAs

Average farm productivity in the pilot Project

Stocking Rate (head/ha)

Bussinesas Usual

BaU

With adoptionof GFAs

Mato Grosso Alta Floresta

Productivity (kg/ha/year)

Bussinesas Usual

BaU

Withadoptionof GAPs

1.611.220.76 141

99+25% +129%

Contributionpotential withtotal pasturereform

Phase 1results

85% increase inmeat production

25% emission reductionper hectare (GHG)

60% less emissionsper kg of meat

Increase meat productionby 5 times the currentresult already obtained

Reduction of GHGemissions by50% per hectare

reduction of GHG emissionsby almost 90% per kgof meat produced

To reach this stage, the path was built step by step:

Relationship with the farmers• Launch event for the pilot project – phase 1 of the Novo

Campo Program; • Property diagnosis and management guidance;• Interventions made at the farms;• Field days, courses, seminars, Farm Fair in Alta Floresta;

1.

Support for the creation of differentiatedtechnical assistance• A Nucleus of Integrated Tech Assistance - NATI I and II

2.

Step by step

EmissionsThis set of practices managed to increase the average meat production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GGE).In the second semester of 2014, ICV began to publicize the program under the name, "The Novo Campo Program – Practicing Sustainable Cattle Farming in the Amazon”. For this, new partnerships were made and new rounds of dialogues were held with a new challenge in mind: to establish a proof of concept at a commercial scale of beef production in the Amazon, focusing on the structuring of a chain with zero deforestation and verified origin.

Expansion model • Partnership with the Pecsa company; • Partnership with McDonald´s

7.

Information and visibility • Publications, videos and news

http://www.icv.org.br/programa-novo-campo-2/

6.

Strengthening environmental management • Restoration activities in Permanent Preservation Areas;• Use of the Guidebook of Sustainable Livestock Indicators for the

assessment and continuous improvement of the practices; • Partnership with the Image Processing and Geoprocessing

Laboratory at the Federal University of Goiás (Lapig/UFG); • Monitoring protocol and platform that ensures sustainable

origin and no deforestation

5.

Interaction with sustainable farming networks• Exchange programs in Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and

São Paulo;• Events held by the Brazilian Roundtable for Sustainable

Livestock (GTPS);• A field day for the Global Roundtable for Sustainable

Beef (GRSB)

4.

Partnership with industry• Technical slaughtering; • Dinner with ranchers and JBS representatives

3.

To continue developing its mission and supporting the development of zero-deforestation sustainable cattle ranching in the Amazon, ICV defined three main work fronts with a solution for each of them.

1) The Adoption of Good Farming Practices (GFP) on a large scale with the development of new modalities of Technical Assistance and Rural Extensions (ATER) in order to accelerate the adoption of GAPs and training workers in the field;

2) Transparency of information on production by means of a Sustainable Cattle Farming Platform, which will integrate information about animal origin, the property’s environmental situation, and the reports of carbon balance inside production system, which will promote constant monitoring and continuous improvement of the system;

3) Regional development with zero deforestation: seek mechanisms for incentives that provide economic, social and production development in towns with a territorial approach by means of integration with public policies.

Next steps

In this new phase, ICV has taken on more responsibility for monitoring the legal, production, environmental and social requirements as well the commitments made by all the links involved.

The practical experience and the commitment to discuss building strategies for the development of cattle ranching with zero deforestation from its origin has taken us to the presidency of the Brazilian Roundtable for Sustainable Livestock (GTPS) and the vice-presidency of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB), in 2017.

Our future strategy seeks the support for the development and improvement of this proposal in the field but it also aims to have an incentive for national and international discussions to move forwards towards the construction of a vision of zero deforestation in cattle farming.

Alta Floresta, MT

CATTLE FARMING: Main land usage of open areas in Mato Grosso

Types of land use of deforested areas in MT (millions of hectares)

Total36.2 Mha

3.5

23.5

9.2

Cattle Farming

Annual AgricultureSoybean: 26.5 MtCorn: 18.1 MtCotton: 2.4 Mt

Beef: 1.3 MtMilk: 550 Ml

Key: Mt – Millions of tonnes, MHa – Millions of hectares and Ml – millions of liters.

Perennial agriculture, reforestation, regeneration and others

ICV has its head office in Cuiabá, the state capital of Mato Grosso and two other offices: one in Alta Floresta, in the northern region, and the other in Cotriguaçu in the northwestern region.

The state of Mato Grosso is the third largest of all the Brazilian states covering an area of 957 thousand square kilometers (more than 90 million hectares) and has a population of three million. It is located in the mid-west region and accounts for 11% of the country’s total area, behind only Amazonas and Pará.

Among the amazon region states, Mato Grosso stands out for having the most active farming frontier with the greatest insertion into the national and global economies.

According to data from the Mato Grosso Institute for Farming Economic (Imea), in its report “the characterization of cattle farming in Mato Grosso”, by 2010 the state will have almost 26 million hectares of pasture land with 28.7 million head of cattle. In the regions covered by the Novo Campo Program, cattle production is 110 thousand head in the Northwest and 260 thousand head in the North.

Cotriguaçu

ALTA FLORESTA

Cuiabá

AmazonCerradoPantanalPortal of theAmazon

www.icv.org.br

igm

ais.

com

.br

ICV CuiabáPhone: +55 (65) 3621 3148

Address: Rua Américo Salgado, 1890, Santa HelenaCuiabá – MT – Brasil

CEP: 78045-055

ICV Alta FlorestaPhone: +55 (66) 3521-8555

Address: Av. Ariosto da Riva, 3473, CentroAlta Floresta – MT – Brasil

CEP: 78580-000

ICV CotriguaçuPhone: +55 (66) 3555-1165

Address: Rua Geneci Castanha, 141 – CentroCotriguaçu – MT – Brasil

CEP: 78.330-000

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