JBS Global CEO defends Brazil-US alliance to tackle hunger and climate emergency
The Global CEO of JBS, one of the world's largest food companies, stressed during the Brazil-USA Summit that the two biggest challenges of our time - hunger and climate change - must be tackled through an alliance between two of the world's biggest agricultural powers: Brazil and the United States. "Today 2.3 billion people suffer from food insecurity. The two countries can come together to share a benchmark of good practices", said Gilberto Tomazoni.
The executive mentioned a recent World Bank report ("Recipe for a Liveable Planet") which presents precisely the opportunity for this technological transfer. Tomazoni went further, suggesting that Brazil and the United States work together for “fair trade” to open up markets in the areas of food and biofuels. On both fronts, with a focus on increasing productivity. Without this, "we won't be sustainable", he said.
Brazil and the United States have a lot to share and exchange in activities such as precision agriculture and assistance to rural producers. Brazil also stands out in regenerative practices, such as no-till farming, crop rotation, intercropping and integrated crop, livestock and forestry (ILPF). "There is an opportunity to carry out research together. How much greenhouse gas is actually emitted by ILPF systems? At JBS, we have partnerships with research institutions in Wisconsin and Nebraska, but we can go further", said Tomazoni.
Ambassador Roberto Azevêdo, former director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and partner at YvY Capital, supported the search for information on calculating emissions in Brazil's production conditions. "We need science. It's not possible for the reference for a cow's emissions to come from Europe, which lives in a totally different environment to Brazil". Azevêdo also pointed to the common interests of Brazil and the United States in the area of biofuels.
Tomazoni also recalled the possibility of working together on studies for more fertile and healthy soils, which are therefore better suited to boosting productivity. "I insist: we need to produce more with fewer resources so that 800 million people don't go hungry, as is happening in the world today". At the start of the panel, the Global CEO of JBS described the company's operations in the United States, which began in 2007. Of the US$ 73 billion in revenue last year, half came from the North American operation, currently spread across 21 states. Of the 275,000 employees that the company has globally, 70,000 are in the USA (Brazil has 155,000, which is where JBS employs the most).
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