Regenerative and sustainable agriculture to be discussed at an international event
Three projects funded by the Land Innovation Fund are on the agenda of the Knowledge Exchange event, which will take place in September in the capital of Goiás.
All the pictures by Fabiano Bastos, ILPF Network Association
On September 18 and 19, Goiânia will host an international event on sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices. The Troca de Saberes (Knowledge Exchange) gathering will bring together researchers and farmers from Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia for a series of lectures and discussions in the EMATER auditorium, as well as technical visits to two farms in the region. The event was planned by SustentAgro, part of the ILPF Network Association funded by the Land Innovation Fund, to promote the expansion of integrated crop-livestock-forestry systems in central-western Brazil. The initiative is organized by SEAPA (Goiás State Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply), with support from Emater (Goiás Agency for Technical Assistance, Rural Extension and Agricultural Research) and the UFG (Federal University of Goiás).
Sign up for Troca de Saberes here
In addition to SustentAgro, two other institutions in the Land Innovation Fund's portfolio will be part of the debate: the ProYungas Foundation, responsible for the Good Agricultural Practices and Carbon Sequestration initiative, underway in the Gran Chaco region of Argentina and Paraguay, in partnership with Aapresid and the Moisés Bertoni Foundation; and the Foundation for the Conservation of the Chiquitano Forest, which coordinates the Innovative Regenerative Practices for Sustainable Agriculture (PRIAS) project, with support from CREA and the Conservation Strategy Fund, in Bolivia. The purpose of the gathering is to identify common challenges and agendas and stimulate dialog and collaboration among key players on South America's environmental and agricultural agendas.
According to the Fund's director, Ashley Valle, “For the Land Innovation Fund, Troca de Saberes is a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge among projects that combine production and conservation with a series of practical actions, such as technical assistance and carbon and biodiversity monitoring, in favor of sustainable development,” adding that “This ILPF Network Association initiative underlines our commitment to fostering a landscape of innovation able to create integrated solutions through dialog with multiple players in the agricultural supply chain.”
Program:
The guests will showcase experiences in their respective countries, where they implement, measure and qualify regenerative and low-carbon agriculture projects, as well as the benefits and scope of sustainability actions for the soil, crops and the environment. They are all trying to contain agricultural frontiers encroaching into native vegetation areas by combining boosts in production with care for the soil and the environment.
The opening lecture will be given by Sérgio Martins de Oliveira, Emater's regional coordinator, who will present data on integrating dairy farming and forestry on a farm in Quirinópolis, Goiás. The combination of agricultural, livestock and forestry systems, through intercropping, succession or rotation, optimizes land use and input consumption, with higher yields and preservation of natural resources.
Hermes Justiniano, strategic advisor to the Foundation for the Conservation of the Chiquitano Forest (FCBC) and coordinator of the PRIAS project, will present partial results of regenerative and low-carbon farming practices on soy and cattle ranches in eastern Bolivia, a transition zone between the Chiquitano, Chaco and Amazon ecoregions, which also suffer from an expanding agricultural frontier. This is a project to increase yields on cropland and reduce deforestation by using and sharing technical knowledge on sustainable practices.
Sebastián Malizia, executive director of the ProYungas Foundation and coordinator of Good Agricultural Practices and Carbon Sequestration, will share the experience and results of field activities to combine production with carbon monitoring and biodiversity conservation. Their initiative, underway on 42 farms in five macro-regions, three in Argentina and two in Paraguay, totaling 147,000 hectares, adopts a territorial management model to integrate production, conservation and ecosystem services on soy farms in the Gran Chaco biome.
Roundtable discussion:
In addition to a series of lectures by invited experts on the morning of September 18, Troca de Saberes will hold a roundtable discussion in the afternoon involving farmers from the three central-western states participating in the SustentAgro initiative and a representative from the PRIAS project in Bolivia. The aim is to gather impressions on day-to-day challenges facing farmers looking for integrated and collaborative solutions for entire farms – from cropland to protected areas.
“We are inviting leading farmers from small, medium and large holdings, with a variety of formats for integrating their systems, who share a common interest in improving or expanding adoption of best agricultural practices, to make local development sustainable,” says Nilo Sander, coordinator of SustentAgro and responsible for curating and coordinating this Troca de Saberes.
The round table moderated by Nilo Sander will be a chance to present and discuss results achieved by four of the 23 farms participating in SustentAgro, which In addition to technical training and technology transfer, is also developing an integrated platform to monitor and verify data from the soy production chain, consolidate sustainability parameters and requirements, calculate carbon inventories and manage ESG products.
At the end of the event, participants will draft a carbon protocol based on guidelines drawn up by experts from Embrapa and voluntary market institutions, and validated by an international certifier.
Technical visits:
On Thursday, September 19th, guest speakers and farmers will make a technical visit to two farms in the SustentAgro project. The itinerary includes a stop in Itaberaí, Goiás at the Carlos Marighella settlement, one of Embrapa's Technological Development Units (UDT) in the ILPF Network Association's initiative in partnership with the Land Innovation Fund. The visitors will be able to see partial results of actual crop-livestock and crop-livestock-forest integrated systems, in two different areas of the same farm. In the afternoon, the group will also visit an Embrapa Rice and Beans Technological Reference Unit (URT) in Goiânia.
Agenda:
September 18, Wednesday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Address: Emater, Goiânia, Domingos Carlos de Oliveira Auditorium (Rodovia R-2, Q. Área 3, Lote AR-3, Samambaia Campus)
8 am: Registration
8:30 am: Opening remarks
9 am: “Success story: Integrating dairy farming and forestry in Quirinópolis”, with Sérgio Martins de Oliveira, regional coordinator for Emater
9:45 am: “Regenerative practices for agricultural soils in Chiquitania”, with Hermes Justiniano, Foundation for the Conservation of the Chiquitano Forest (FCBC)
11 am: “Protected Productive Landscapes: production, carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation”, with Sebastián Malizia, Proyungas Foundation
2:30 pm: “Roundtable on experiences and challenges in the countryside”, with Manlio Roca (FCBC, CREA Bolivia), Rafael Maia da Silva (Sítio Moriá, Sidrolândia-MS), Maressa Resende Vilela Bettencourt (Fazenda Atiaia, Juara-MT), Avelino Neto (Carlos Marighella Settlement, Itaberaí-GO), José Ferreira Pinto (Fazenda Santa Barbara/Quirinópolis-GO). Moderated by Nilo Sander, SustentAgro project coordinator.
5 pm: Closing session
September 19, Thursday
Address: technical visit to the Carlos Marighella settlement, the SustentAgro Technological Development Unit in Itaberaí and Embrapa’s Rice and Beans Technological Reference Unit.