Video with highlights of Beef on Track

The program of live sessions of Beef on Track, organised by Imaflora, brings together several speakers discussing the challenges and opportunities involved with monitoring cattle suppliers in the Amazon region. In order to bolster the discussions, the Beef on Track Program put together a video compilation of the highlights of the live sessions that took place from June to July 2020. These sessions focus on the Unified Livestock Protocol developed with basis on a long process that began in 2009. 

One of the outcomes of this process was the creation of the Beef on Track Program aimed at building a unified protocol for the criteria and rules of monitoring, unifying the process of accountability to society regarding the audit and assessment processes of the Terms of Adjustment of Conduct (TAC) undertaken by beef companies, and offering training to beef companies and the entire livestock chain.

The speakers in the live sessions, in order of appearance in the video, were Federal Prosecutor Daniel Azeredo, Sustainability Director of JBS Márcio Nappo, Federal Prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Mato Grosso state Erich Masson, Technical Director of Niceplanet Jordan Carvalho, Senior Campaigner of Greenpeace Brazil Adriana Charoux, Federal Prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Amazonas state Rafael Rocha, and Sustainability Director at Minerva Foods Taciano Custódio.

See a few of the excerpts below: 

"This debate focuses on the Unified Livestock Protocol and is part of a broader process that was kicked off in 2009. Its primary purpose is to reduce deforestation, comply with the country's socio-environmental laws and promote sustainable economic development. The Public Prosecutor’s Office believes that it is possible to boost production, productivity and investments in technology to control production areas." Daniel Azeredo - Federal Prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor's Office

"The Beef on Track program has three main goals. The first is to build a unified protocol for the monitoring criteria and rules and make these rules easier to understand and apply so that everyone, even smaller beef processors, can operate with the same level of technical quality as large beef companies. The second goal is to unify the process of accountability to society and the audit and assessment processes of the TAC. This is extremely important because it is with basis on these outcomes that the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the market can position themselves in relation to the beef industry and in the selection of their suppliers. The third pillar of the program, which is being implemented in a very interesting way by Imaflora, involves offering training to the beef processors, that are now reaching the point of discussing monitoring, and also the geomonitoring companies." Márcio Nappo - Sustainability Director, JBS

"We have a specific project in Mato Grosso, that is well under way and is being deployed along with the Mato Grosso Meat Institute (Imac), to enable producers, who have illegally deforested, to be reinserted into the supply chain of beef companies as long as the illegally deforested areas are fenced in and not used in their production process. We hope in this way to achieve the goal of this project, which is environmental recovery". Erich Masson - Federal Prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Mato Grosso state

"We know that after this initiative, started in 2009, the Brazilian market and the international market have started looking at Brazilian livestock and agriculture as a whole, and demanding socio-environmental legality in the raw material supply chain." Jordan Carvalho - Technical Director of Niceplanet

"According to Imazon and Gibbs data, the process of exclusion or the blocking of suppliers was precisely what led to a more effective change in the behaviour of producers." Adriana Charoux - Senior Campaigner of Greepeace Brasil

"Today, we have 630,000 properties registered in Sicar, 176,000 of which overlap with Ibama's deforestation polygons. Out of the 176,000,114,000 properties are smaller than 100 hectares. So, we are very much focused on smallholdings." Taciano Custódio - Sustainability Director of Minerva Foods

"When you start denying the issue of Animal Transit Permits, the situation gets very complicated. Of course, you will be faced with resistance from here or there but, in general, what you are sending out is a very clear message that deforestation is discouraged." Rafael Rocha - Federal Prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Amazonas state