Two of the most promising young leaders of Brazilian agribusiness are contributing to the future of land use. Ana Carolina Zimmerman and Lucas Dierings were part of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA), broadcast from Berlin, Germany, at the end of January.
At the event, Ana and Lucas presented the statement: “Sustainable Land Use: Food Security Starts with the Soil.” The document was prepared with other 14 young leaders from countries around the world, including Mexico, Zimbabwe, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Uganda, India, China, Canada, South Africa, Argentina, and the United States.
The statement concerned three main aspects of sustainable land use, based on the following questions:
1. How can we improve soil protection and restore degraded soils?
2. How can we make the use of finite land resources more sustainable?
3. How can farmers worldwide get fair access to land?
The answers to these questions are crucial to solving a global problem. “We call upon policymakers to provide a framework that will help to make sustainable farming—farming that takes care of economic, environmental, and social aspects—a vital business model,” says the document. “We understand that we borrowed the land of future generations, and we endeavor to leave it in a better condition than we received it.”
Responsibility
Ana Carolina was one of the young leaders to read the document at the event. “I embrace the responsibility of being a young woman, a rural successor who somehow has a voice in an event with world leaders responsible for public policymaking, as well as showing how Brazil already practices rural and sustainable development.”
The young leader is taking this responsibility to a new level. Not only was she a part of the GFFA but she is also ready to bring these ideas to the international agribusiness network Nuffield. In February, in the United Kingdom, she will see up close how rural innovation is transforming the reality.
According to her, education access involving science and technology contributes to the adoption of good practices aiming at soil conservation, restoration of degraded pastures, and the use of other technologies.
The whole process of developing the statement was also very enriching to the young Brazilian Farmers, as Lucas Dierings describes: “Different realities of agriculture in the world require different policies. In several debates, we talked about how important it is to strengthen family agriculture with technological inclusion actions and agricultural policies that keep the rural producer in the business and, mainly, facilitate the property right.”
Both Ana Carolina and Lucas stood out in the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA) Youth program, a CNA initiative to promote entrepreneurial leadership among young people and challenge them to transform realities in the agricultural sector. They are part of a wider group that also attended the event. Get to know them on this link.
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