![\"Maria](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/45f11b47-c5df-4133-a22e-d24110043d86.jpg\")
Maria Gorete Rios with one of her dozens of Nelore cattle: \u2018People don\u2019t want product from dubious origins\u2019 \u00a9 Michael Pooler\/FT<\/p>\nBrazil\u2019s choice of the Amazonian port city of Bel\u00e9m for the UN climate conference was intended to showcase the vital role of the rainforest in combating global warming. <\/p>\n
With the world watching, the 46-year-old Helder Barbalho, governor of the COP30 host state of Par\u00e1, is trying to demonstrate he is serious about tackling the main driver of the biome\u2019s destruction: unlawful land clearances for cattle ranching.<\/p>\n
Timed for the COP30 summit, an initiative is being rolled out to track the territory\u2019s millions of cows, calves and bulls via electronic ear tags by 2027. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has to work together. The producer has to adopt good practices, the meat industry has to understand that this movement is important and necessary,\u201d Barbalho said.<\/p>\n
At her small mixed-use farm in Novo Repartimento, Maria Gorete Rios pointed to numbered yellow clips on her dozens of Nelore, a white humpback breed common in Brazil. \u201cThe demand is from the market, not just the state,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t want product from dubious origins.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tree felling is behind almost half of Brazil\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions, and grazing pasture accounts for 90 per cent of the area razed in the Amazon, according to non-profit group MapBiomas.<\/p>\n
Maria Gorete Rios with one of her dozens of Nelore cattle: \u2018People don\u2019t want product from dubious origins\u2019 \u00a9 Michael Pooler\/FT<\/p>\n
The issue poses potential commercial risks for the Brazil\u2019s beef sector \u2014 the top exporter globally with $11.7bn of shipments in 2024.<\/p>\n
The EU will soon ban the import of certain commodities linked to forest loss, and the bloc at present does not authorise beef imports from Par\u00e1 state.<\/p>\n
Along with slapping a 40 per cent tariff on Brazil, the US has said that illegal deforestation unfairly advantages its agriculture and timber.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the South American nation\u2019s main trade customer, China, also interested in the provenance of agricultural goods, tracking systems were likely to become a necessity, said Clovis Rossi, chief executive of agritech company Granter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will ensure continued exports. Paraguay and Argentina are implementing individual traceability. So if Brazil doesn\u2019t, the markets will buy from them instead,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to raise the world\u2019s perception about the control and quality of Brazilian meat\u201d.<\/p>\n
Following a campaign by environmentalists for greater transparency into the origins of beef, the government of leftwing President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva \u2014 which has overseen a significant drop in Amazon deforestation \u2014 pledged to make all cattle individually traceable by 2032, joining the likes of Australia and Uruguay.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Nelore cattle at an auction in Xinguara in Par\u00e1 state\u2019s cattle country \u00a9 Michael Pooler\/FT<\/p>\n
Yet Par\u00e1\u2019s experiment illustrates the scale of the challenge: from convincing sceptical ranchers to effective enforcement in a territory larger than France, Germany and Belgium combined.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s herd of 26mn across nearly 300,000 farms is Brazil\u2019s second largest and similar in size to Australia\u2019s. At least half of those animals are raised on illegally deforested land, according to research by Bain & Company and non-profit group The Nature Conservancy (TNC).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ranching took off in south-east Par\u00e1 from the 1970s when the military dictatorship sought to open up the Amazon to development. Along a highway cutting through the area, a once dense and diverse tropical forest is now largely scrubby grassland dotted with trees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On his family\u2019s sprawling estate with 20,000 animals in the cattle hub of Xinguara, third-generation rancher Guilherme Fraga is one of those in favour of the scheme who hopes it will boost prices and open new markets such as the EU. \u201cI think it will increase the value [of cattle] in the future,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s necessary. Illegal deforestation has to stop.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Brazil, cattle can pass through several farms for fattening but abattoirs have long said it was not possible to identify the trail beyond their direct suppliers because of data protection rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Under the tagging plan, each cow will have a unique ID with details on properties where it was raised, cross-referenced against databases showing violations, such as illegal deforestation or impingement on indigenous territory. (Landowners in the Amazon forest must preserve 80 per cent of their property as native vegetation). Failure to comply could result in fines and seizures.<\/p>\n
It will also allow officials to better identify and isolate disease outbreaks. \u201cWe will go from seeing animals in batches to individuals, which will help with sanitary issues,\u201d said Barbra Lopes of Par\u00e1\u2019s agriculture and livestock agency.<\/p>\n
Improved livestock management could also lower emissions of methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, over a 20-year period, by reducing the slaughter age.<\/p>\n
Backers of the scheme including the Bezos Earth Fund, the world\u2019s largest meatpacker JBS and supermarket chain Carrefour are donating 3mn tags, with the latter two also providing technical assistance.<\/p>\n
JBS\u2019s Brazil sustainability director, Liege Correia, is doubtful that consumers will pay a premium for deforestation-free meat, however. \u201cThe best financial incentive is that beef from Par\u00e1 can be distributed in overseas markets that pay better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Voluntary at present, the programme will be mandatory for any cattle transported from the start of 2026. So far, only some 300,000 have been tagged.<\/p>\n
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Raul Proen\u00e7a: \u2018I view [the tracking programme] positively, and we\u2019re advancing. I just wish the deadline weren\u2019t so close\u2019 \u00a9 Michael Pooler\/FT<\/p>\n
Although herds of 100 or less will receive free ear tags, some small and middling producers worry about the extra costs of tags, which Lopes says will come to between about R$11.50 and R$18 ($2.16-$3.38).<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople will leave the business,\u201d said dairy farmer Mario Jose de Souza, who has about 150 cows in Xinguara. \u201cI can\u2019t afford to pay someone for a day to help with tagging. The government is hurting the little guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others fear bad actors will continue to sell unregistered cattle in the informal market. And in a region with a frontier mentality, there is a degree of suspicion towards the state.\u00a0\u201cFake news and a lack of information and understanding is the problem,\u201d said the smallholder Rios.<\/p>\n
Farmers will benefit through improved monitoring and management of herds, argues Jos\u00e9 Otavio Passos at TNC, which is supporting the rollout. \u201cIt\u2019s a mechanism for modernising production, leading to better productivity and profitability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside the town of Marab\u00e1, Raul Proen\u00e7a, who owns a thousand cattle, has fitted only half of the 200 tags he received, since many other ranchers who buy cattle from him do not yet want tracked animals. \u201cI view it positively, and we\u2019re advancing. I just wish the deadline weren\u2019t so close.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Beatriz Langella <\/p>\n
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