The 5th Workshop on Responsible Soy & Deforestation organized by FEDIOL and FEFAC also highlighted the efforts by E.U. representatives in the soy supply chain to make responsible soy production and trade mainstream.
Representatives from the Brazilian government and the soy production chain presented the evolution of environmental legislation and its stringent enforcement over the past 10 years, with the ongoing mandatory implementation of the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and its analytical tools as the key instruments to tackle illegal deforestation.
The workshop pointed to the need for follow-up action by downstream chain partners to turn deforestation free supply chains into market demand for responsible soy. Targeted environmental payments from the E.U. and national governments was suggested as a means to provide incentives to soy farmers to protect native vegetation beyond legal requirements.
This is particularly true for all agricultural activities in the Cerrado Biome, where the native vegetation challenges are different compared to the Amazon Biome.
The Earth Innovation Institute representative congratulated the members of the partnership on establishing the first large-scale collaborative approach towards sustainable jurisdictional sourcing, which may provide a vehicle for rewarding environmental performances by farmers thanks to initiatives such as the FEFAC Soy Sourcing Guidelines and the Soja Plus program.
