Environmental performance

GRI 102-11, 103-1 (compliance with environmental law)

One of BrasilAgro’s principles is to fully comply with labor and environmental laws and the Company actively works in partnership with governmental and non-governmental agencies to expand its positive impacts in the regions where it operates. Therefore, in the pursuit of continuous improvement of environmental-related initiatives, the Company’s main premises are:

The compliance with environmental laws is one of the pillars of the Company’s strategy for its property’s development. After the incorporation of new areas, the environmental and corporate legal departments, together with the farms’ operational team, implement an action plan designed to adapt the property to environmental laws under several aspects, among them, the farms’ structure, the respect for areas of environmental protection and legal reserve, the registration with proper government agencies and the obtainment of licenses for all activities developed, in addition to training and sharing with new employees about environmental procedures and policies.

The Brazilian environmental law is acknowledged as one of the world’s most modern and complete legislations. The environment, in addition to being part of the country’s constitution, is the core subject of several federal and state laws.

Because of that, the Company has a system to share on a weekly basis updates on federal and state environmental laws of locations where the Company operates, being always up to date and able to perform necessary changes. The environmental department has a system to manage licenses, renewal terms and conditions, ensuring compliance with all commitments executed with environmental agencies, according to an established schedule. Every year, the farms’ operational team carries out self-evaluations to identify improvement opportunities in the processes and structures and, accordingly, comes up with action plans with duly implemented terms and responsibilities. Currently, there are 120 licenses, and 179 conditions monitored on a monthly, half-yearly and yearly basis, which are managed through alerts sent adequately in advance so that the environmental department takes necessary actions for each case.

Management of land use and biodiversity

GRI 103-2, 103-3 (deforestation and land use), 304-2

All of BrasilAgro’s properties are enrolled in the Rural Environmental Registration (CAR in Portuguese), an electronic record that gathers georeferencing information of the property, outlining limits of use and occupancy of each location. Areas with remaining native vegetation are considered preservation areas (legal reserve, areas of permanent protection), as well as those used for cattle raising. Therefore, CAR is an important environmental management tool. BrasilAgro manages 100 Rural Environmental Registrations, 67 of which are own areas and 33 are partnership areas. Land use management is an extremely relevant topic in the Company’s operations and in the creation of value for its properties. Most significant soil impacts are related to compacting, mainly caused by the intensive use of agricultural machines and the possible intensification of erosive processes, which result from areas becoming agricultural and cattle raising ones

To mitigate those impacts, the Company adopts, in all its units, conservative soil practices, such as contour farming, with terrace building and maintenance, direct sowing and crop rotation (learn more by clicking here). On the other hand, the potential for soil and water bodies contamination, despite less significant, is mitigated by the Solid Waste Management Plan (learn more by clicking here), which establishes the maintenance of adequate structures to store each type of waste and their disposal, creating income and indirect jobs in the regions where the Company operates.

Protection Areas Program
BrasilAgro has a “Protection Areas Program”, that adds another 72,700 hectares of protected native vegetation in Brazil and Paraguay, corresponding to 27% of total property area, ensuring and contributing to biodiversity maintenance. The area comprises both areas of permanent protection and legal reserves as well as wildlife corridors and environmental easements, that connect large forests of native vegetation.

During its operations, the Company sometimes acquires degraded lands or areas under natural regeneration. Based on that, a technical study is prepared, called Degraded Land Recovery Plan (PRADs in Portuguese), in which BrasilAgro undertakes to invest and adopt the best practices to recover those areas. The recovery of degraded lands is done mainly by replanting the native seedlings. Up to this date, 163,258 seedlings have been planted, 7,861 of which were in the 2019/2020 harvest year.

The Company is monitoring the developments of the National Program for Environmental Services Payment – Forest+ (decree no. 288), published on July 2, 2020, which is targeted at appreciating initiatives to protect Brazilian native vegetation. BrasilAgro is also a signatory of the Manifest for the Defense of the Amazon Rain Forest, prepared by the Brazilian business sector and presented to the federal government in July 2020, confirming the commitment of these companies to sustainable development.

Fire prevention
In the State of Goiás, BrasilAgro has helped Parque Nacional das Emas with building and maintaining firebreaks, buffer zones that help preventing fires from spreading. In partnership with Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the Company supports employee courses and trainings, with the focus on prevention and fight against wildfires. Parque Nacional das Emas is an important conservation unit in the Brazilian Cerrado, region with extremely high temperature and low humidity, which favors the sparking of wildfires. All BrasilAgro’s operational units, except for Partnership V (Xingu Farm), are located in the Cerrado Biome

In order to mitigate those risks, the Company has reviewed and improved its Fire Prevention and Fighting Procedures, which include the daily monitoring of all properties and their surroundings using radars and satellites, the improvement of processes and materials, as well as the training of farm employees and outsourced staff. Furthermore, the Company has developed a Fire Communication and Investigation Procedure adopted to keep a complete record of documents, photos and internal reports in order to evidence the fires’ origin and to record the damages caused. The investigation is an important tool for the continuous improvement of fire prevention and fight processes at the units. In this report period, 13 fires have been recorded, 88.6% of which are from unknown origin and the remaining have been sparked from lightnings or in the machinery.

Fauna Protection
Aware of its impact on the fauna and committed to biodiversity conservation and protection, the Company develops a Fauna Rescue and Displacement Plan over in its properties. In this Plan, supported by hired specialists, BrasilAgro identifies the local fauna, establishes handling and protection strategies, and identifies areas where to move them (Legal Reserve, Area of Permanent Protection, Wildlife Corridor, neighboring areas with the same ecosystem, Protection Units in compatible biomes, among others.) The environmental agency approves the plan, and the Company rescues and displaces the fauna during the entire period when the area is turned into native vegetation, while monitored by a team of trained veterinarians and biologists, to send the fauna to the best location for its survival.

Pursuing an even more integrated and sustainable model, BrasilAgro in partnership with the Institute for the Environment and Water Resources of the State of Bahia (INEMA – Instituto do Meio Ambiente e Recursos Hídricos in Portuguese) and the Center for Wild Animal Screening of Vitória da Conquista (CETAS – Centro de Triagem de Animais Silvestres in Portuguese), makes its protected areas (legal reserve and area of permanent protection) available for rescued wild animals to live in.

Seeking to raise awareness among the inhabitants of the regions where the Company operates, its employees and outsourced staff about hunting prohibition, signs have been placed at the Company’s properties, and the environmental authorities contact information is disclose for reporting of any irregular action. Hunting is prohibited in all properties of the Company, which patrols the areas, in order to avoid the entrance and action of illegal hunters in its lands.

Certificates endorses BrasilAgro’s efficient environmental management

GRI 102-12

From ABR – Responsible Brazilian Cotton, a program to unite cotton growers for a more sustainable cotton production in Brazil, our 2019/2020 harvest from Chaparral Farm, in Bahia, was certified.

Furthermore BCI – Better Cotton Initiative – is a non-profit organization that works to improve world cotton production for the producer, for the environment, and for the future of the sector. The Chaparral Farm also received the Better Cotton Licence for the 2019/2020 harvest.

BrasilAgro also received the Onça Pintada Certificate in the 2019/2020 harvest year by the Onça Pintada Institute, due to the successful case of Preferência Farm (BA), a property that currently has areas under transformation, adequate to the survival of the jaguars (“onça pintada” in Portuguese). The certificate is awarded to rural producers, enterprises or service providers that are established in regions where jaguars can be found and whose sustainable practices contribute to their preservation.

In partnership with Onça-Pintada Institute, the organization monitors the presence of those animals in BrasilAgro’s units, assessing the impact of agricultural and cattle farming activities, well-being, life conditions and the mammal reproduction.

Private rural enterprises are essential for the species preservation strategy and the certificate endorses the adoption of sustainable practices and pacific coexistence, contributing to protecting the species, its habitat and natural preys.

Water management

GRI 303-1, 303-2, 303-5

The Company continuously evaluates the quality of surface and underground water in its farms, by assessing, at some units, over 54 standards in a specialized lab certified by NBR ISO 17.025. In addition, the Company obtains the authorizations and waiver of authorizations necessary for water withdrawal and use. To control water use, some units have time and water metering as volume control mechanisms.

Except for Morotí (Boquerón), Serra Grande (PI) and Preferência (BA) units, all other properties have water bodies. In general, the water needed for human consumption, animal consumption in case of cattle raising farms, and agricultural spraying comes from deep artesian wells, drilled and duly authorized by the proper environmental agencies. Before being sent to the water tank, the pumped water goes through chlorination and filtering process, ensuring it is drinkable.

Surface water, on the other hand, is withdrawn at the Rio do Meio, Arrojadinho, São José and Araucária for irrigation and to fight fires. In all units where authorization for water withdrawal is granted, whether surface or underground, an assessment is conducted every year, based on the Ministry of Health’s Consolidation Ordinance no. 5/2017, and CONAMA Ordinance no. 357/2005, ensuring not only the water quality but also the health of our employees. All withdrawal spots comply with the maximum volume of total dissolved solids.

At the Morotí (Paraguay) unit, as well as most of the Paraguayan Chaco region, the high salt level in the aquifer makes underground water impossible for human and animal water consumption. In that sense, part of the property’s water demand is met by rainfall water reuse, duly treated prior to distribution.

Activities that can potentially impact water resource quality are performed at a safe distance, complying with the NR-31 rule. Furthermore, waste is not discharged in water bodies at the units. Farms are equipped with biodigesters, which are provided according to the number of employees, and water is treated before being discharged in leach fills.

Water consumption (m³/year)¹	Withdrawal	2018/2019	2019/2020
Alto Taquari	Underground	5.70	8.19
Araucária³	Underground and surface	19.20	19.03
Avarandado³	Underground	49.27	49.27
Chaparral³	Underground	37.96	37.96
Nova Buriti	Underground	1.40	1.01
Preferência	Underground	-* ²	100.43
São José⁴	Underground and surface	9,064.27	13,933.94
Arrojadinho³	Underground	5.47	5.47
Rio do Meio³	Underground and surface	108.77	108.77
Xingu³	Underground	35.42	35.42
Morotí³	Underground and rainfall water reuse	-* ²	63.20

Note (1): Water is measured in two ways at the units – for some units, effective measurement is performed, and, for others, measurement is done through authorized capacity, and we can have significant differences given that several units might actually have a lower consumption than what is reported, because they do not entirely use the granted capacity. To improve our management and control, we are installing time and water meters.
(2): Not previously measured.
(3): Farm does not have water meter installed, amount reported refers to granted flow rate.
(4): Property operates with irrigation.

Waste Management

GRI 306-1, 306-2, 306-4, 306-5

The Solid Waste Management Plan (PGRS in Portuguese) covers the procedures and techniques to ensure waste is properly collected, handled, stored, transported and disposed with minimum risk and environmental impacts.

To enable compliance with the PGRS, it is very important that employees and outsourced staff participate. Thus, BrasilAgro developed the Environmental Rule and Procedure NPA 004, which sets forth the methodology and secures the compliance with PGRS, in addition to having a team of leaders in each unit duly prepared and trained to constantly update the Plan’s performance.

Recyclable waste is sent to duly licensed cooperatives.

Organic waste is sent to the compost and later turned into fertilizer for vegetables.

Waste contaminated with oil (classified as Class I waste) is sent to licensed companies for incineration or duly certified landfill.

Empty pesticide containers are sent back to duly registered Container Return Centers.

Waste management (amount)	2018/2019 Harvest year	2019/2020 Harvest year
Class I
Co-processing	600 (L)	1,930.00 (L)
re-refining	5.22 (t)	0.00
Class II
Recycling	2,050.78 (t)	149.84 (t)
Reverse logistics	46,620 (UN) + 5.52 (t)	61,467 (UN) + 5.6 (t)

Note: Waste has different measurement units: liters (L), tons (t) and units (UN).

Environmental management

Environmental performance

Management of land use and biodiversity

Certificates endorses BrasilAgro’s efficient environmental management

Water management

Waste Management