Friday, 23 August 2024.
Last Tuesday, August 20th, we were at Associação Comercial, Industrial e Empresarial de Ponta Grossa (ACIPG, Commercial, Industrial and Business Association in that city) for the “ESG Governance and Practices Forum” event, organized by the Paraná chapter of the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC), a reference in Brazil and one of the main organizations in the world in corporate governance.
Ponta Grossa's economy is one of the most important and diversified in southern Brazil, focused on the processing of soybeans and cereals, as well as the processing of food, beverages, fertilizers, forestry inputs (wood, paper and cellulose) and metallurgy.
At the event, there were several presentations and panels for a large and very interested audience, with cutting-edge content, “by people who do it”.
Among the presentations, a highlight was that of Jean Andrusko, from the Frísia Cooperativa Agroindustrial (Frísia), who presented practical actions being developed - and positive results - from their more than a thousand cooperative members.
Frísia - a name that refers to the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands - was founded in 1925 by Dutch families who arrived in Brazil in 1911. Today it operates in different segments, with several units in Paraná, Tocantins and headquarters in Carambeí.
This fantastic Sustainable Farm program consists of 5 levels of maturity for each cooperative member’s operations. Basically:
I - Labor routines, environmental requirements, registration data, implementation of 5s, selective collection;
II - Waste disposal, personal protective equipment, NRs safety training, controls on inputs used;
III - Document management, financial management, occupational health, facility safety, good agricultural practices, pesticide storage, biosecurity and zootechnical controls;
IV - Maintenance and calibration of equipment, operational controls, animal welfare, adaptation of fuel tanks and agricultural machinery washers;
V - Relationship with the local community, biodiversity, sustainable practices, carbon footprint, forest restoration, sustainability certifications.
Each level that the producer fulfills guarantees a bonus.
In addition to higher remuneration, it also brings competitive advantages in increasingly demanding markets, reduced risks associated with the business and better property management.
Click on the image below for the press release “Frísia leva para o Tocantins o projeto Fazenda Sustentável”, where you can read more about it.
After the event, we spoke with Jean who promptly and kindly shared the 25 slides presented, with even more interesting details. Next Monday, August 26th, we will share the slides with our readers and address two more very interesting topics presented by Frísia:
the carbon footprint of milk and soy credits.
Congratulations to the Paraná Chapter of IBGC for organizing the event.
