Brussels was the setting for the BE Brazil conference last week. The event, held by Apex Brasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Authority, consisted of three sessions and was seen as a means to put Brazilian agriculture in the shop window, bolstering EU-Brazil trade relations.

Ambassador Roberto Jaguaribe, president of Apex Brasil, said it was time for a new understanding, claiming that Brazil now had similar standards of food safety and quality to the EU.

The presenters showed how the negative social and environmental impacts of Brazilian agriculture had lessened. Annual deforestation has reduced by 82% between 2004 and 2014.

Beef production

In terms of beef production, output increased by 38% between 1995 and 2010, yet pastureland area decreased by 2% during the same period.

The difference with EU cattle production became evident when the Irish Farmers Journal questioned Antônio Pitangui de Salvo, president of the Brazilian Cattle Breeding Committee, about the traceability of the country’s cattle herd.

What is clear is that registration of cattle 90 days prior to slaughter is sufficient to meet EU requirements unlike in Ireland where calves must be registered within 27 days of birth.