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Santa Verginia, the first Brazilian farm to obtain a Carbon Neutral Meat certification is located in Santa Rita do Pardo, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. This traceability protocol works with Crop-Livestock-Forest (ILPF) and Crop-Livestock (LP) integration systems to neutralize greenhouse gases emitted in the process of producing cattle beef.
The idea is to focus on pasture as the herds’ main source of food, encouraging the recovery of degraded areas. This certification was developed by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (EMBRAPA) and is managed by the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA).
At Santa Verginia, 1,000 out of the 10,000 hectares of the farm are part of the integration protocol. The farm’s consultant, José Zacarin, explains that the integration systems offer numerous benefits for animals and plants. According to him, 30% of the farm is covered by trees.
“The 30% that have trees produce the equivalent of 50% if it were from a dense forest. In other words, we already have 20% more wood production than a natural forest.”
Study
Paulo Costa, coordinator of Traceability Protocols at CNA, explains that all the information that the rancher needs to adapt and claim a certification can be found online, at: agritrace.com.br. CNA monitors the requirements to verify if they are being met.
“The rancher can check what are the requirements of this protocol, find qualified certifiers to make the necessary certifications on his or her property and thus increase his or her profitability. This happens because, in addition to the herd, he or she will have certified meat and, at the end of the planted forest cycle, he or she will also have the proceeds from the sale of forest material,” explains Costa.
According to a study by Embrapa Gado de Corte [Embrapa Beef Cattle], 200 trees per hectare would be enough to neutralize the methane emitted by 11 adult cattle per hectare per year.
“The protocol brings a series of benefits from both pasture and animals, apart from supplementation, pasture fertilization, and management of the correct pasture height. All these variables are checked during the production process and the monitoring of soil carbon,” said Roberto Giolo, a researcher.