735 million people still face hunger worldwide. By 2050, global food production will need to grow by 20% to supply a population approaching 10 billion people. And Brazil plays a central role in this challenge: increasing its own production by 40% to help feed the planet. But the challenge is enormous: producing more while emitting less.
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JULIANA – Hello, I’m Juliana Ramiro, and this is Ccarboncast, the podcast that connects you to climate and carbon science. The challenge of producing more while emitting less is an equation that requires a combination of theory and practice. To build this bridge between science and the real demands of the field, CCARBON–USP was created — the Center for Carbon Studies in Tropical Agriculture at the University of São Paulo.
PROF. CERRI – CCARBON is a center that was created at the University of São Paulo with the main objective of helping Brazil achieve its emission reduction and removal targets for the agriculture, livestock, and forestry sectors. Our mission is to develop strategies, technologies, and procedures based on carbon to make our agriculture, livestock, and forestry increasingly sustainable.
This is Professor Carlos Eduardo Cerri, one of the idealizers and the general director of CCARBON. He explained that a center dedicated to tropical climate research had long been a dream among researchers in the field — one that became reality thanks to funding from FAPESP, the São Paulo Research Foundation.
PROF. CERRI – We secured more than 100 scholarships for human resources training. We understand that there is a shortage — this is a relatively new field, many institutions in Brazil are making efforts, but there is still a gap. So, we believe that these FAPESP resources, to establish the center and allow it to grow over time, are fundamental. FAPESP could not have been more generous in enabling these activities.
Professor Cerri leads the Center alongside Professors Maurício Roberto Cherubin, Pedro Brancalion, and Tiago Osório Ferreira. Management is carried out with the support of an executive committee and an international scientific committee that evaluates and guides the Center’s actions.
Research activities are guided by key questions that steer the scientists’ work: Do Brazil’s agricultural soils act as carbon sources or sinks? How do soil microorganisms influence carbon sequestration? What is the real impact of pasture management on livestock emissions?
The proposal goes beyond the production of scientific knowledge. Researchers aim to turn knowledge into real, applicable agricultural practices. And studies have already begun to deliver concrete results. Professor Cerri shared some examples:
PROF. CERRI – We have been working at the plot scale. What does that mean? At the scale of a single property, a single farm. And what is this scale for? To understand processes and mechanisms. In the case of soil, understanding why carbon exists in the soil. In the plant pillar, which we already discussed, plants perform photosynthesis and transfer carbon to the soil.
In the animal pillar, animals — not only for our direct or indirect consumption — also emit gases into the atmosphere. So the question is: can we, through more balanced diets, alternatives, or additives, reduce gas emissions from eructation and enteric fermentation?
But that’s not all. There are atmospheric activities, water dynamics, and digital tools that help us integrate and understand all these complex mechanisms and processes. So we conduct work at the plot scale to understand mechanisms, across all these fronts.
Then there is work at the regional and even continental scale. There is an entire research line on blue carbon, with carbon being sequestered in mangroves. There is also a strong research line focused on animals — for example, using an artificial rumen to manipulate diets so that animals emit less to the atmosphere.
There is also research related to genetic improvement, so plants become more adapted to impacts such as dry spells, droughts, excess rainfall, or temperatures they are not accustomed to. Simulation models, artificial intelligence, and measurement techniques — there are so many fronts.
But how do you coordinate such diverse research efforts across so many locations? The answer lies in partnerships. The Center operates with support from public institutions, universities, private companies, and international organizations.
CCARBON scientists are working in croplands, forests, mangroves, and even livestock farms, testing new diets for cattle. The goal is to understand how soil, plants, animals, and the atmosphere interact within agricultural systems that are increasingly challenged by climate change.
CCARBON researchers are not only in Brazil — they also develop projects in other countries across the Americas, Europe, and Africa. There are more than 80 researchers working across multiple research lines and at different scales, from small plots to continental-level studies.
One good example is a study that evaluated, across the entire American continent, how management practices influence carbon sequestration. Data from 34 countries in the Americas, from North to South, were analyzed. Researchers focused on three practices with the strongest scientific evidence for soil carbon sequestration: no-tillage farming, integrated systems, and the recovery of degraded pastures.
The result was striking:
PROF. CERRI – If we use 30%, just 30%, of the areas in the Americas that are in some degree of degradation and adopt these practices — no-tillage systems, crop–livestock integration, integrated systems, or pasture recovery — on 30% of the area, the amount of carbon we can sequester is around 13 petagrams.
What does that mean? Thirteen gigatonnes — 13 billion tonnes. And what does that represent? It means offsetting 40% of greenhouse gas emissions across this entire territory for 20 years.
I’m using these numbers to give a sense of scale to those listening: well-adopted management practices not only improve profitability for farmers and make systems more resilient to climate impacts, but they also become part of the solution for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Even with the expansion of sustainable practices such as no-tillage and integrated systems, soil health in Latin America remains concerning. According to a CCARBON study, only 34% of soils in the region are considered healthy. Thirty-eight percent are in poor condition, and 28% are in an intermediate state.
In Brazil, the contrast is even greater: more than 40% of the evaluated area has intermediate soil health, and 11% was classified as unhealthy — nearly one million square kilometers.
This reveals an immense potential for recovery, which is why knowledge must reach public policies and farmers. And it is precisely at this point that CCARBON’s work becomes even more relevant.
PROF. CERRI – CCARBON is still a young center, but I would say it has already contributed significantly to major discussions. We had the opportunity to present our work to a very important group of G20 world leaders.
CCARBON has participated in COPs — the Conferences of the Parties — where representatives from 197 countries gather to make decisions that must be grounded in science. At the national level, we actively participate in the federal government’s Low Carbon Agriculture Program, and the ongoing work has helped assess and quantify how beneficial these practices are and how they have been adopted across Brazil.
Let me give another example: RenovaBio. Together with other institutions, we generated emission factors — for fertilizers and crops — which are essential for a calculator called RenovaCalc, developed by Embrapa with our contribution.
So there are examples like RenovaBio, the Low Carbon Agriculture Program (ABC Program), and the Safra Program, which has used much of the data we generated. There is also the National Program for the Recovery or Conversion of Degraded Pastures, which aims to restore 40 million hectares of pastureland. And we have data showing the best practices for each edaphoclimatic condition.
JULIANA – CCARBON also participates in the São Paulo State Climate Change Committee. The goal is to bring scientific evidence to support safer decision-making in agriculture, livestock, and forestry — sectors that are highly affected by extreme events.
Sustainable practices, applied science, and immediate action. The path is clear — and Brazil has everything it takes to lead this increasingly urgent transformation.
According to FAO, by 2050 the global population will grow, and food production will need to increase by about 20%. However, many countries will not be able to expand their production. As a result, some — including Brazil — will bear greater responsibility:
PROF. CERRI – There is an expectation that Brazil will increase food production by 40%. Increasing something that is already large by 40% is a huge challenge. Along with this production challenge, we also face climate change, which is already complex.
We must bring all these challenges together. And the message is: if there is a country capable of doing this, that country is Brazil. Because here we have territorial and edaphoclimatic conditions — but above all, knowledge and technology.
JULIANA – That’s it. Good management practices connected to public policies can transform challenges into opportunities — especially in a country like Brazil, which has everything it takes to lead climate change mitigation.
In the next episode, you will learn how billions of microorganisms contribute to carbon sequestration in the soil. See you then!
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Ccarboncast is produced by the dissemination team of CCARBON–USP. This episode was narrated by Juliana Ramiro and written by Mariana Pollo, with content review by Rodolfo Fagundes Costa. Recording took place at TV USP studios, with editing and sound design by Soupods. This project is supported and funded by FAPESP.
