To ensure a truly sustainable and environmentally responsible operation, an agricultural cooperative must pay attention to the starting point of the entire production chain: the properties of its affiliated producers.

At Cooperativa Agrária Agroindustrial, which has been operating for over 70 years in the southern state of Paraná, Brazil, producing seeds, malt, soy products, flour, and animal feed, this factor has always been taken into consideration.

The Agrária Rural Management Program (PAGR, for its acronym in Portuguese) exists precisely to improve the production standards of the cooperative members, who receive assistance from Agrária’s technical advisors in order to implement methodologies and good agricultural practices on their properties, aiming to ensure the quality of raw materials.

 

Sustainable Initiatives

In 2006, the cooperative developed the Agrária Rural Certification Program (PACR, for its acronym in Portuguese), an initiative that aimed to improve the quality of management of cooperative members through an internal and modular certification system.

In 2015, Agrária joined the SAI Platform, which supports sustainable agriculture. Both projects evolved and were merged in 2017, forming the Agrária Rural Management Program.

According to Andréia Ramos Partata, quality management coordinator at Agrária, “the project initially involved areas such as environmental protection, health, safety, people, and services to cooperative members. After implementing the program, some improvements were made and we added other areas such as technical assistance and FAPA (acronym in Portuguese for Agrária Foundation for Agricultural Research).”

“The goal is to develop sustainable production starting from the rural properties of cooperative members and extending all the way to the marketing end, increasingly valuing their practices and products, enhancing competitiveness in the consumer market,” said the coordinator.

 

Continuous Improvement

Within the Agrária Rural Management Program, rural properties are classified into five different levels of sustainable evolution. At each level, the requirements become stricter, aiming at a more sustainable agricultural production.

At level 1, considered an entry level, for example, the focus falls on process standardization, recycling, and growth plans for the following levels. From that point on, properties need to adhere to more and more elements of management, safety, and sustainability, going through improvements and obtaining certifications.

The last level takes into account, for example, spring protection, management planning, biodiversity assessment, as well as soil management and conservation, among other criteria.

“The program has undergone several improvements and achieved the expected goal. Today, PAGR is seen as a major sustainability initiative that seeks to comply with current legislation, traceability, employee well-being, and good agricultural practices,” said Andréia to Cooperação Ambiental.

 

An Impactful Initiative

In total, 159 properties linked to the cooperative are part of the Agrária Rural Management Program. This means that approximately 84% of the total cooperative area is considered sustainable.

Furthermore, through the program, Agrária has achieved other feats, such as:

• RTRS Certification (Round Table on Responsible Soy Association): to generate and commercialize soy credits.
• Pró Terra Certification: an internationally recognized standard for environmental sustainability and social responsibility, applied to any non-genetically modified commodity and aligned with Basel criteria.
• SAI Certification (Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform): an international initiative for sustainable agriculture.

For the future, the plan is to keep improving. “The program already meets one of the main sustainability platforms (SAI) and is seeking improvements in the required criteria in view of new certifications,” concludes Andréia.