“Regarding innovations, the main demands are technologies that align sustainability, traceability and precision agriculture, in addition to credit…”
Grazielle Parenti is the business and sustainability head for Latin America at Syngenta, vice president of the Swiss-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and professor at the Higher School of Advertising and Marketing– ESPM. Parenti holds a degree in business administration from Fundação Getúlio Vargas, with an MBA in marketing from the University of São Paulo.
Grazielle Parenti, business and sustainability head at Syngenta
AgriBrasilis – How has the agroindustry participants view on ESG policies evolved?
Grazielle Parenti – The ESG agenda is present in the daily lives of many Brazilian agribusiness professionals. The tendency is for this movement to consolidate more and more in the coming years. What supports us in predicting this is the evolution of the regulatory and business environment, that encourages a prosperous and sustainable environment for farmers and companies that comply with environmental, sustainability and governance rules.
Business sustainability is no longer a segmented interest, for specific sectors. It has become a priority for all industries and production chains. Currently, companies have an urgent need to align their products and business models with environmental issues.
Here at Syngenta, this is already a reality. We base our work around ‘innovability’, a concept that unites our efforts in innovation and sustainability in favor of acting in line with society’s expectations. In our case, this is based on regenerative agriculture. One example is the “Programa Reverte” (Revert Program), developed in partnership with Itaú BBA, TNC and Embrapa, that aims to support farmers, through agronomic protocols and long-term financing, to transform degraded pastures into productive soils, without the need to open new lands for farming.
We work with regenerative agriculture, using modern technologies that protect biodiversity and the environment, the health of nature and the soil. Soil is the basis of everything and the legacy that will be left for future generations, and it is essential to recover and preserve it. There is also the issue of climate change: agriculture is one of the activities that can evolve from being a carbon emitter to a carbon sink/carbon sequester activity, through regenerative agriculture practices.
We understand that the importance of our initiatives requires adequate resources. Therefore, Syngenta’s annual and global investment in R&D is around US$ 1.4 billion.
AgriBrasilis – What are the main demands of the farmers? What do they want in terms of innovation?
Grazielle Parenti – Farmers’ demands are increasingly connected to the expectations and needs of the consumer market. For this, agricultural production needs to be actually productive, that involves factors such as climate, logistics, infrastructure, affordable rates for rural credit, etc.
Regarding innovations, the main demands are technologies that align sustainability, traceability and precision agriculture, in addition to credit.
AgriBrasilis – You participated in the official visit of the Brazilian government to China. What is the balance of this visit? What dialogues have been established with the Ministry of Agriculture?
Grazielle Parenti – The balance of the visit to China, currently the biggest market for Brazilian agribusiness, was highly positive. During the visit, important alignments and interactions could be carried out.
The Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock delegation made a technical visit to our biotech facilities in Syngenta China and learned about our research in genetic improvement. Throughout the meeting, the delegation reinforced the relevance of continuous investment in science for sustainable development and the importance of investments in Brazil to continue advancing in the production of sustainable food for the world.
AgriBrasilis – What does Syngenta aim with the partnerships with Embrapa? What are the results?
Grazielle Parenti – Syngenta and Embrapa have a General Cooperation Agreement that established an active partnership in research, development and technology transfer.
Our goal is to provide innovation and make viable alternatives and attractive commercial offers to Brazilian farmers. This is already happening in the development of solutions that are benefiting the production chain of various crops, such as corn, soybean, cotton, sugarcane, etc.
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