At COP 28, JBS announces US$9 million investment to support mandatory traceability in Pará and improve livelihoods of small producers in the Amazon Region

DUBAI, Dec. 1, 2023 -- Today, JBS announced its support of the government of Pará’s groundbreaking effort to enhance transparency and traceability in the livestock supply chain in the Brazilian Amazon through the adoption of mandatory animal identification in the state by 2026. Governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, announced the plan today at COP 28 in Dubai. Importantly, the effort focuses on improving the livelihoods of farmers and local communities, and eliminating the economic drivers of deforestation. JBS is also leading a pilot project focused on implementing individual cattle traceability in Pará.

"Today we take an important step by partnering with private funds to launch this initiative, aiming to have 100% of the state's cattle tagged for individual traceability from birth to slaughter by 2026. This ensures, on one hand, integrity and transparency for the productive chain in the region. It also needs to be done with support for the producer, enabling them to access the benefits that this traceability provides, opening up markets," said Barbalho.

To accelerate adoption of the Pará Plan, JBS will invest $9 million over the next three years to help smallholders offset the cost of animal identification tags and provide technical assistance to help producers make a living in the Amazon without clearing more forest.

In September, during the Climate Forward event in New York City, JBS Global CEO Gilberto Tomazoni called for a mandatory program to track cattle raised for beef in Brazil to prevent deforestation, while stating the international community must provide more economic support to smallholders whose livelihoods depend on the land.

“Today’s announcement from the government of Pará is a turning point in the fight against deforestation,” said Tomazoni. “JBS offers its full and unequivocal support of this effort as we believe full traceability with government support is critical to eliminating deforestation. Recognizing that one of the greatest drivers of deforestation is the lack of economic opportunity for local producers, JBS has already begun providing financial assistance and technical expertise to producers to tag and track cattle in Marabá, and ensuring extension services are available to producers across the state through four JBS Green Offices.”

In November, JBS successfully initiated a first-of-its-kind individual animal ID pilot project in partnership with Allflex and NGO partners at the Friboi facility in Marabá, located in the state of Pará. The goal is to extend the pilot to all farms that directly supply the Marabá facility. The company will support additional project partners and the state government in commencing trials at cow-calf farms, enabling full cattle traceability from birth.

The company’s $9 million investment in Pará and the broader Amazon region will focus on empowering small producers with alternatives to improve their livelihoods while eliminating the economic drivers of deforestation. These are just a few highlights of the initiatives currently underway. 

• JBS will invest $1 million to support individual traceability of cattle, providing direct economic assistance to small producers to help pay for ID tags at the farm level.

• The company has established four JBS Green Offices in Marabá, Redenção, Santana do Araguaia and Tucumã in Pará, which provide technical expertise, extension services animal traceability services to producers. By 2026, the Green Office program will receive an additional $600,000 in investments, facilitating the regularization of thousands of producers through the Sustainable Territories Platform, a state government program designed to scale and effectively implement low-carbon socioeconomic development initiatives in Pará.

• JBS will invest $76,000 through its Farm Grade 10 Program, an initiative to improve management and productivity on livestock farms. Focused on small producers, the program offers training for high-performance management, with the goal to maximize performance of cattle farms in Pará without forest clearing.

• The JBS Fund for the Amazon, a private-public philanthropic fund established by JBS in 2020, will invest $7 million in two important projects that will serve more than 5,000 families in the Legal Amazon, starting in Pará.

• The Juntos project, a $2 million producer program launched last month, will provide small-scale producers in the Amazon with tools to transition to low-carbon livestock farming. The program will serve more than 3,500 families, reaching a monitored area of more than 350,000 hectares, with more than 50,000 hectares of recovered pastures using regenerative farming practices.

• The RestaurAmazônia project, a $5 million effort launched in 2021, implemented by the Solidaridad Foundation and supported by the JBS Fund for the Amazon, promotes the integration of agroforestry systems for cocoa, sustainable livestock production, and the preservation of forest areas in Pará. The project will scale up productive restoration work in an area of 75,000 hectares across four municipalities in Pará, assisting more than 1,500 family farmers.

“JBS continues to lead the fight against deforestation in the Amazon, empowering producers with the tools to address poverty and improve their livelihoods, restore degraded pasture, and increase productivity to the benefit of their families, communities and the environment,” said Jason Weller, JBS Global Chief Sustainability Officer. “Today’s announcement and significant investments from the company will help accelerate the adoption of full traceability in one of the most important cattle production regions in the Amazon. I commend the state of Pará for establishing this important precedent that has the potential to transform sustainable cattle production across the country.”