01 / INTEGRATED CATTLE AND SOY
AGROPECUÁRIA RONCADOR LTDA (RONCADOR)
&Green is financing Roncador for the upscaling of their sustainable farming system that integrates crops (predominantly soy) with livestock (“ICL”) to their full farming operations. In addition, the project includes the recuperation of degraded pastures. &Green’s financing will enable completion of an effort that started in 2018 with a proof-of-concept and that will reach maturity in approximately 3-4 years (2022/3). 60,000 hectares of the 150,000 hectare farm will be converted to a sustainable ICL model, whilst conserving 71,180 hectares of forest and ensuring early compliance with the Brazilian Forest Code. &Green’s loan tenor is for eight years, which is complementary to Roncador’s credit line with the commercial lender.
Project summary
| COUNTRY | Brazil |
| PROVINCIAL JURISDICTION | Mato Grosso |
| INVESTEE COMPANY | Agropecuária Roncador Ltda. |
| SUPPLY CHAIN | Upstream Cattle and Soy |
| TOTAL INVESTMENT SIZE | BRL 150 million & USD 10 million |
| &GREEN PARTICIPATION | USD 10 million loan |
| EFFECTIVE DATE | 30 April 2020 |
| LOAN TERM | 8-year tenor |
| CO-INVESTOR | Local commercial bank with a BRL150m loan |
INVESTING IN SUSTAINABLE CATTLE FARMING
02 / blended finance
INVESTMENT RATIONALE
In Brazil, cattle ranching and soy production are seen as two important drivers for direct and indirect land conversion. Given that context, &Green is happy to partner with Roncador, a cattle and soy farmer operating on a farm of approximately 150,000 hectares in the State of Mato Grosso in Brazil.
&Green is supporting Roncador with the upscaling of its sustainable production model, which integrates crop and cattle on the same hectare of land. The project aims to deliver the creation of a blueprint for sustainable business practices that demonstrate a vision which balances sustainable production and the protection of the environment on approximately 150,000 hectares.
03 / the action plan
ENVIRONMENTAL RETURN & SOCIAL INCLUSION
The targeted Environmental Returns for the project are displayed below and represent the aggregate of the impacts of Roncador’s actions (i.e. ER) within its farm gate (e.g. forest conservation and restoration, as well as land to be sustainably intensified), and the potential results of Roncador’s actions outside its farm gates (e.g. engagement with 3rd parties such as suppliers, farmers and coordinating agencies, that in turn generate ER). Roncador’s commitments to &Green as part of the financing relate to directly attributable actions: achieved ER on-farm and activities implemented off-farm.
&Green takes an active role in advising companies such as Roncador in order to define their role as a key stakeholder within their industry and with their peers, and to disseminate best practices and encourage the adoption of their sustainable production blueprint by others. The key documents which &Green uses to manage its relationship with Roncador are:
LPP – The Landscape Protection Plan is a fundamental document for &Green that establishes and anchors the long-term vision for the sustainable development of the borrower’s production and conservation model within and outside the farm gates.
The LPP:
- Establishes a shared understanding of the project area and business as usual of the landscape.
- Defines the additionality of the programme and target for each ER, including impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
- Determines the ER plan, budgeting, delivery milestones and MRV strategy.
ESAP – The Environmental Social and Action Plan is a plan which defines actions that Roncador will implement, it was developed based on a gap analysis of Roncador’s practices against the IFC Performance Standards. The gap analysis has been carried out by an independent E&S consultant, with inputs from &Green’s Investment Advisor, SAIL Ventures.
An independent third-party firm will assess Roncador’s progress with the LPP, ESAP and other internal environmental and social policies and plans on a yearly basis. A summary of the assessments’ conclusions will be published here annually.
ENVIRONMENTAL RETURN
The rationale for generating the three key ERs (forest conserved, land intensified and forest restored) in Roncador’s “landscape” is centred on the company’s production strategy and state of the art farming practices. By focusing on areas that can demonstrate high levels of soil health and productivity, Roncador applies improved soil management; cattle ranching; and agricultural practices to generate above state average productivity levels and increased production volumes for both soy and cattle (60,000 ha of land intensified). In turn, these practices demonstrate sufficient returns to guarantee the protection and restoration of forested areas (~66,595 ha of forest conserved, and 200 ha of forest restored). The sheer size of Roncador’s farm (150,000 hectares) means that it has a direct and material influence on the landscape.
Additionally, the project demonstrates a strong case for reducing overall GHG emissions while increasing production and productivity. Impact on GHG emissions will be included in Roncador’s reporting and will be tracked. To promote its business philosophy outside its farm gates, and support off-farm environmental returns, Roncador is taking an active stance to disseminate its knowledge and share its vision via various channels and for different communities. From the farmer’s movement, Liga do Araguaia, to studies and through its own information dissemination activities, Roncador will enable others to understand and replicate the model and create a market for rewarding and incentivizing sustainable products in the cattle industry.
SOCIAL INCLUSION
The project does not actively target smallholder inclusion or social inclusion, as the ERs are mainly generated through on-farm interventions. Yet, whilst the benefits are not directly tracked, we can expect the farming community, including smaller farmers, to benefit from the dissemination of information on the practices Roncador which will carry out and publish.
04 / ASSESSING RISKS
ENVIRONMENTAL & SOCIAL RISK ASSESSMENT
The E&S risks of this project are low, given that the project is centred on expanding an already proven intervention within Roncador’s farm gate, and without any complicated social and ecological circumstances.
Roncador demonstrates strong practices, based on the gap assessment made against the IFC Performance Standards, and will be looking to further strengthen those practices towards meeting the standards. The ESAP focuses on the improvement of Roncador’s E&S management systems (ESMS) in order to promote a continuous improvement mechanism on E&S performance.
