“…has production scale, a tropical climate, adapted technologies, and decades of experience in sustainable systems…”
Thiago Camargo is managing partner of IBRA megalab, a production engineer from UNIFEI, with a postgraduate degree in quality engineering from UNICAMP.
Thiago Camargo, IBRA megalab
AgriBrasilis – Is Brazil capable of leading low-carbon agriculture?
Thiago Camargo – Brazil has unique conditions to lead low-carbon agriculture: it has production scale, a tropical climate, adapted technologies, and decades of experience in sustainable systems such as no-till farming and ILPF. Programs such as the ABC Plan and ABC+ have paved the way, encouraging low-emission practices.
A study published in 2022 in Nature Sustainability showed that, with agricultural intensification and the recovery of only 12% of degraded pastures — approximately 5.7 million hectares — Brazil could produce 162 million tonnes of soybeans by 2035, without deforestation and with 58% less climate impact compared to the baseline scenario.
This combination of productivity and sustainability is Brazil’s unique advantage. To transform this potential into global leadership, it is essential to have reliable metrics — a strategic role for laboratory and digital soil analysis.
AgriBrasilis – How and why are carbon measurements taken in crops? What parameters are used?
Thiago Camargo – Measuring carbon means quantifying how much the soil stores and how management influences this process — the basis for both validating carbon credits and guiding farmers to improve soil health.
IBRA combines reference methods, such as dry combustion, with innovative technologies such as SpecSolo® (Vis-NIR) and Digital Soil Mapping (DSM), ensuring traceability, quality, and scale at a lower cost.
The main parameters measured are: carbon content and soil density at a defined collection depth, allowing the calculation of carbon stock per hectare. In addition, analyses such as labile fractions and biological indicators reveal the quality of the carbon and whether the system favors sequestration or loss.
AgriBrasilis – Why has measuring carbon in the soil become a matter of credibility?
Thiago Camargo – Soil is the foundation of a new climate economy that is taking shape. For it to exist legitimately, data must be standardized, traceable, and internationally accepted. When we talk about credibility, it is not just about science, but also about access to markets: only with reliable figures can Brazilian agriculture guarantee a competitive edge in global chains. It is this ability to prove the real effects of different agricultural practices with consistent data that underpins the new carbon economy.
At IBRA, we treat this process as a complete traceability cycle: from planned collection with geospatial algorithms, through sample control via QR Codes in the field, to laboratory analysis using international reference standards. This rigor ensures globally comparable and reliable results for use in carbon projects, providing security to farmers, developers, buyers, and investors.
“…regenerative management increases resilience and reduces risks…”
AgriBrasilis – What is the biggest challenge today: standardization, regulation, or financing?
Thiago Camargo – When it comes to measuring soil carbon, standardization is not a challenge: international protocols are available and have already been adopted by IBRA. The point now is to apply these methods on a large scale, with traceability, quality, and affordable costs.
What needs to be advanced is the adaptation of emission factors to Brazilian conditions—a tropical country with multiple crops and mostly pasture-based livestock—which requires generating national scientific evidence and its international recognition within the UNFCCC/IPCC.
The voluntary market already operates in Brazil, with legal instruments such as the PSA Law, which allows remuneration for environmental services. But projects in agriculture are more recent: it was only in 2021 that the first global standard, Verra’s VM0042, emerged. More than creating new regulations, it is essential that the voluntary and regulated markets coexist in a complementary manner and with comparable metrics.
Financing is crucial to scaling up. As banks and insurers recognize, based on evidence, that regenerative management increases resilience and reduces risks, the potential to attract capital for low-carbon agricultural intensification grows. For this, the data needs to be robust and auditable — a central role for laboratory analysis.
AgriBrasilis – What do the 375,000 measurements taken by IBRA megalab reveal about agriculture?
Thiago Camargo – These analyses confirm that regenerative practices increase carbon stocks and agricultural productivity. They also reveal that well-managed areas can achieve stocks equal to or greater than those of native reference areas.
This was evidenced in a 2025 scientific article resulting from the SPD+Agro project, coordinated by the Brazilian Federation of No-Till Farming (FEBRAPDP) and research partners, with analyses by IBRA and funding from Euroclima. The study evaluated 63 locations in the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes, with 3,402 soil samples. The results showed that in 16 areas (25.4%), no-till farming exceeded the carbon stocks of native vegetation, and in another 27 (42.8%), it restored between 80% and 100% of these stocks.
These findings reinforce what we have observed in the field: well-constructed soils accumulated over decades of conservationist management accumulate more carbon, have greater biological activity, and make crops more resilient and productive.
AgriBrasilis – In practice, do farmers understand what low-carbon agriculture is?
Thiago Camargo – In practice, many farmers already adopt low-carbon regenerative management practices without using these terms. What engages farmers is having well-constructed soil, which guarantees consistent harvests and opens doors to benefits such as carbon credits, financing, and more accessible insurance. This understanding is growing because the results are tangible: practices that already add value to crops also reinforce the sustainability and competitiveness of Brazilian agriculture.
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