Among the multinationals that dominate agricultural lobbying in Brazil, 2 Swiss and 2 German groups are particularly active

By Lucas Neiva

A report by the De Olho nos Ruralistas Institute, which monitors policies related to Brazil’s agribusiness industry, has pointed to the dominance of foreign multinationals in lobbying the sector in Brazil. Of the six companies with the most meetings of representatives with the Ministry of Agriculture between 2019 and 2022, only one, JBS, is Brazilian.

According to the report, most of the lobbying for agribusiness is done by the think tank Instituto Pensar Agro (IPA), which pools resources from more than a thousand companies and associations in the sector.

The organization has organized 160 official meetings with officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, led by Tereza Cristina (PP-MS), between 2019 and 2022, in collaboration with the Parliamentary Front for Agriculture and Livestock. In contrast, the social movements working in the field came to only two meetings.

Between 2019 and 2022, six companies came to a total of 278 meetings with the Ministry of Agriculture: Syngenta (Switzerland) with 81 meetings, JBS (Brazil) with 75 meetings, Bayer (Germany) with 60 meetings, Basf (Germany) with 26 meetings, Nestlé (Switzerland) with 23 meetings, and the U.S. company Cargill with 13 meetings.

Bayer, a company that produces agrochemicals, was named in the report as the main player maintaining proximity with the government.

In October 2019, its president Werner Baumann even met with President Jair Bolsonaro at an event organized by Apex Brasil. Vice President Hamilton Mourão spoke with company executives in a video conference the following year.

Although the largest companies funding the IPA are from Europe, Europe is not the institute’s main source of revenue. The United States leads the way with 40 companies in this organization. The main investors are companies in grain trading, rural real estate management, agrochemical production, and animal product manufacturing.

They are followed by companies from China and Japan, which have a total of 31 participants in the IPA. In these two countries, the sector of interest is the production and trade of tobacco inside and outside Brazil.

Only then do European investors come into play, with Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland being the main financing locations.

The report also highlights the discrepancy between these companies’ access to government and that of social movements.

“While indigenous peoples, peasants, and quilombolas are excluded from discussions that affect their right to life and territory, the economic power of agribusiness moves unimpeded, imposing agendas that ultimately lead to the worsening of the severe socio-environmental crisis that Brazil faces today.”

The Ministry of Agriculture already denies that multinationals associated with the IPA are preferential participants and also denies the commercial interest of the meetings. “The relationship [of the IPA] with the Ministry of Agriculture is to provide subsidies and relevant information for the formulation of public policies for the development of the sector,” the communications office said in a statement.

MAIN INTERESTS

According to the report, the agrochemical sector is the main branch of the agricultural industry interested in lobbying both the executive and legislative branches. And in this sense, facilitating the entry of agrochemicals into the market is the predominant interest, which was the main reason for 81 meetings of representatives of the Swiss company Syngenta with the head of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Efforts in this direction were successful. During Jair Bolsonaro’s term in office, more than 1,600 new pesticides were approved in Brazil.

In addition, last February, the House of Representatives approved Bill 6299/2002, which provides more flexibility in the control of pesticides in Brazil and allows for the marketing of generic products.

The bill passed with broad government support and is now being debated in the Senate.

In addition to advocating for the project, the IPA participated in the drafting of the new Environmental Permits Law, which reduces controls not only in the agricultural sector but also in mining, industry, and construction; Bill 2633/2020, which amnesties several properties acquired through the illegal occupation of public lands; and Bill 191/2020, which legalizes mining on indigenous lands. All projects have received government support.

With information from UOL