JBS Environmental opens another facility in the central-west region.

Andrea Azevedo, Executive Director of the JBS Fund for the Amazon, announced the launch of the new JUNTOS program in São Paulo. This initiative by the JBS Fund for the Amazon introduces a novel support mechanism for small-scale beef producers operating within the Amazon region. Collaborating with Rio Capim Agrossilvipastoril Company, the JUNTOS program: People + Forests + Livestock aims to integrate calf and young cattle producers into the transition towards low-carbon livestock farming. The program anticipates more than doubling the income of these producers across their entire property, with profitability in intensified areas potentially increasing sixfold. The initiative also includes a fully traceable supply chain with environmental compliance from the start. Pará will be the first state to implement the program. This latest effort by the JBS Fund for the Amazon acts as a business incubator, partnering with local producers. The strategy involves establishing business hubs to assist small producers in pasture renovation and accessing productivity-enhancing technologies through agroforestry-pastoral techniques, thereby supplying the market with high-quality, low-carbon livestock. "We believe that high-productivity, low-carbon livestock farming is beneficial for small producers and can be achieved with substantial support to overcome the main barriers in this process. Given the shifts in market demands, without action, these producers could be marginalized from the formal sector, exacerbating their socio-economic vulnerability," stated Andrea Azevedo, Executive Director of the JBS Fund for the Amazon. The initial version of the JUNTOS program, set to start immediately, will attract small Amazonian producers interested in joining a highly profitable cattle rearing system. This partnership originates from the accelerator hub coordinated by the Rio Capim Agrossilvipastoril Institute, which will oversee the intensified cattle rearing up to the seventh or ninth month of the animal's life, providing individually tracked calves with a Guide to Animal Transport (GTA) to small producers for rearing. Upon reaching one year, the small producer is compensated based on the weight gain achieved. Subsequently, the batch moves to fattening farms or feedlots. Additionally, the business hub will facilitate small producers' access to public credit systems like Pronaf – National Program for Strengthening Family Agriculture, for pasture renovation or sustainable projects on their property. Concurrently, the Rio Capim Institute will pilot a carbon project, potentially offering less than 10% of the business revenue generated to the small producer as carbon credit income. "This is a scalable livestock integration system, marketable under current conditions," explained Valmir Ortega, CEO of the Rio Capim Agrossilvipastoril Institute. "The framework reconciles the restoration of degraded pastures with quality livestock farming, addressing all activity challenges. With this approach, the financial outcomes for producers in the medium to long term are significant, within a partnership system that repositions small producers in the supply chain towards more land-efficient livestock farming," the Fund's director elaborated. The second model of the JUNTOS program: People + Forests + Livestock will operate in collaboration with the Solidaridad Foundation, which has been working with the JBS Fund for the Amazon since 2021 to support 1,500 family farmers in the Transamazon region. In this model, the business hub will assist in Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (Ater), reproductive technology packages, input purchasing, and also mediate traceability implementation and marketing. Producers can choose to extend the breeding to rearing process. In all formats, JBS will provide its infrastructure to support small producers. The project will link with the Company's Green Offices, offering free technical advice for environmental regularization, and access to the Fazenda Nota 10 program, a Friboi initiative aimed at improving property management. Financial Goals and Plans Initially, the JBS Fund will allocate R$ 10 million to the JUNTOS program: People + Forests + Livestock, with plans to invest up to R$ 100 million over the next ten years. This investment aims to leverage over R$ 900 million in resources from Pronaf, commercial sources, and donations, using various financial instruments such as guarantee funds and blended finance funds, to enhance the project's scale in its initial phase. The State Government of Pará will be a partner in assessing the demands generated by the program. "We will support with a faster approval system for Rural Environmental Registrations (CARs) and with the Environmental Services Program (PSA) for the recovery of liabilities on small properties, in addition to financing the first pilot producers through Banpará," stated Raul Protázio, Undersecretary of the State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability of Pará. The program aims to support over 3,500 families in the main states of the Legal Amazon, starting with Pará, monitoring an area of more than 350,000 hectares,