Abstract
Brazil has become one of the world’s largest grain producers and exporters by increasing productivity as well as expanding its agricultural frontiers in the last decades. Globally, the relevance of the consumer awareness of the need to preserve natural ecosystems is strengthened and consumer has demanded information from suppliers that demonstrate the sustainability of the productive chains. In the Matopiba region, the last agricultural frontier in the Brazilian Cerrado biome, soy producers are being encouraged to adhere to the responsible soy certification standard. This study evaluated three groups of certified soy producers. Field research has shown that farmers have common expectations: legitimacy, risk reduction, land valuation, and promotion of different modalities of access to the certification system.
Highlights
Brazil is among the world’s largest grain producers
The Soy Moratorium was declared in July 2006, consisting of a commitment on the part of the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (ABIOVE) and the Brazilian Association of Cereal Exporters (ANEC) not to market or finance soybeans produced in areas that were deforested in the Amazon biome [5]. This moratorium represented an institutional innovation in environmental governance in Brazil, which was improved by the launching of the socio-environmental certification of the soybean chain, known as the Round Table Responsible Soy (RTRS) standard, in the Cerrado biome [6]. Considering this context, the aim of the present study was to answer the following questions: What motivation could induce soy producers in agricultural frontier regions to adhere to certified agriculture standards? What barriers could hinder the adherence of soy producers to socio-environmental certification standards? What strategies are being adopted for certification? In this study, three groups of certified soy producers were evaluated
Interviews with ten certified and non-certified producers allowed the identification of barriers and facilitators in the scenario of socioenvironmental certification in the Matopiba region
Summary
Brazil is among the world’s largest grain producers. In 2016, the area planted with soybeans reached 33.3 million hectares and produced 96.296 million tons of grains. Since the early 2000s, the average annual variation in soybean area has been 18.4% in the Matopiba region, see Table A1 and Table A2. Economic growth understood as a linear, boundless process based on the continuous incorporation of land and natural resources is the presupposition of the frontier economy [1]. Buosi the replacement of low-productivity pastures [3] and the suppression of native vegetation [4]
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