PI: Brian Cook

Date Awarded: December 2024 (FSRF 2024-08-31-2(1))

Summary (from final report):

This report examines how government policy and corporate influence shape the growth of Brazil’s animal farming sector and what can be done to steer it towards sustainability. Using document analysis, case studies, and semi-structured interviews conducted in 2025, it maps three reinforcing forms of power - instrumental (campaign finance and lobbying), structural (economic centrality and access to public finance), and discursive (public narratives about “modern” agribusiness). The analysis finds that the Parliamentary Front for Agriculture (FPA), supported by the privately funded Instituto Pensar Agro (IPA), provides an organized channel through which industry priorities translate into law and regulation. State support, especially subsidized rural credit under Plano Safra and related instruments, remains a central driver of expansion. Recent legal changes and proposals on environmental licensing and pesticides illustrate how this influence operates. Evidence also links frontier deforestation to cattle expansion, underscoring the sector’s environmental risks. Despite this, meaningful alternatives exist. Courts, watchdogs, and civil society have constrained some harmful initiatives. Public food procurement and municipal programs show scalable models that improve nutrition and support family farming. Finance-focused campaigns are reshaping incentives and consumer shifts are beginning to affect demand. The report offers a strategic toolkit for advocates. Key recommendations include dismantling the industry's public narrative while amplifying alternatives, targeting public subsidies and private investment for reform, building broad cross-sectoral coalitions, and scaling up successful local policy models to create momentum for national change.

Reposted from: Cook, B. (2025). Power Behind the Plate: Analyzing Government Policies and Industry Power in Brazil’s Animal Farming Sector.

Further Information: The full report can be downloaded here.