At 50, Embrapa wishes for a smaller carbon footprint from Brazil’s agribusiness

The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. For five decades, it has been at the forefront of developing technologies aimed at improving the productivity of the Brazilian agribusiness sector for producers of all sizes.

Under the umbrella of the Agriculture Ministry, the technical body carries out scientific research guided by environmental and social sustainability, with the aim of achieving two major goals: guaranteeing food security for Brazilians and maintaining the country’s leading position in the international food market.

Throughout its history, Embrapa’s work has shaped Brazilian agriculture in more ways than one.

In the 1960s, for example, scientist Johanna Döbereiner — who had arrived ten years earlier in Brazil from the former Czechoslovakia and joined the Agriculture Ministry’s research arm — carried out research on the use of bacteria for biological nitrogen fixation.

Her findings were revolutionary. With bacteria being used to fix nitrogen to the roots of plants such as soybeans, it became possible to get rid of nitrogenous fertilizers for soybean crops. Today this represents annual savings of USD 2 billion for Brazil.

Embrapa develops projects with input from different segments of society. A good example is the nanoemulsion made from carnauba wax (used as an edible coating on fruits and vegetables), which was created in 2022 out of a partnership between Embrapa,...