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raising. During the trip, in a local bookstore, we got a very important book, written by several members of the Federal University of Pará, organized by Professor Marcelo Bentes Diniz, on the “Challenges and Potentials for the Amazon of the 21st Century.” In it, we learned that agricultural policy is more important to solve environmental issues in the Amazon than the environmental policy itself. And the cruelest fact, in our opinion, was that the Legal Amazon area has an unbalanced pattern of occupation. Pastures represent the largest form of land use, estimated at 51 million hectares. Here we saw the need to implement a utilization system for devastated areas with “carbon credits”.

We met Oswaldo Kato and his team at Embrapa Oriental after seeing videos showing the development of the first agroforestry farms in Brazil, developed by the Japanese community in the Amazon, and then defined that this format would be the ideal to return to the forest in foot.

In the lecture on organic culture, at BioFair Brasil 2018 in São Paulo, with several important producers, among them Pedro Paulo Diniz from Toca Farm, and Joe Valle from Malunga Farm, icons of organic production in Brazil. They do not care about the infestation of exotic species, and that there is a large difference between organic culture and agroforestry culture. They still use a lot of water, they destroy the forest and, anyway, the argument is that they need to feed the world, just like the agricultural argument. In other words, the goal of organic farms is to feed without detriment to health without enough concern for the environment. This is quite different from our approach, which is to extract food from the forest and study new foods that are not harmful to the environment, and much less harmful to our health.

A strong example during the event was an Indian, who asked the speakers why they were using so many plastic water glasses on the table in an event that addresses awareness with nature and life. This highlights the lack of awareness about the nature. There, the need to encourage agroforestry, extractivism and the recovery of forests was defined. Studying the forests and productive and unproductive crops, through the study of biologist Mauro Galetti, we identified the absence of animals, or better: the de-faunation that strongly contributes to the unproductiveness of the new forest areas. Many questions from producers, and few studies of the forest - worldwide - have made us think in terms of a school and a model farm.

We met a Brazilian-teutonic lady, who was raised until the age of 14 on a farm in the Amazon and then went to study in Switzerland. Today, at the age of 45, she returns to Brazil to reformulate the Panorama farm, of the Gutzeit family, originally from Germany. With high cocoa production, she can identify the need for cocoa improvement and the exclusion of a series of practices, seeking the return of production within the forest. Along with the farm, Eunice’s father, Mr. Ervino, brought people to build a school inside the ranch in the middle of 1960 and since then the school is running. In this place, we saw the opportunity to create the first Agroforestry school in Brazil, and the Brazil Tasty model farm. The family was very satisfied and the expectation is that our team accompanies them integrally in the development of this model of school and model farm.

1.2) Industry overview

Contrary to the irrational exploration, many other methods are already being applied, such as Toca farm, owned by Pedro Paulo Diniz, where he invited to start the project the Swiss-born Ernst Gosth, who since 1976 has developed what he called of “synthetic agriculture”, which is the very foundation of the forestbased Japanese agriculture. In this model the native forest and organic farming coexists in harmony. The method proves to be more productive, effective and profitable besides contributing to the environment and, ultimately, to society. In order for the process to respect the biome in which it is inserted and to be truly sustainable, it is necessary to avoid a practice that is found today in several forestry enterprises: the exploration and the insertion of exotic species. As a commercial matter, the owners of these farms start to produce what they are looking for in the consumer market. Despite the good intentions of the initiative they are driven by market rules and do not realize the damage they may be causing to native flora and fauna.

On a trip through the interior of the Amazon, it is easy to see these damages. On the road, it is common to see stalls with beautiful and colorful fruits. The sellers know that most of them are not from the Amazon. They are fruits such as Pitaya (originally from Mexico), lychee (which came from China), cranberry (from the USA), tamarillo (from the Andes) and Kino (from Africa). In these shacks, the only native fruit, most of the time, is the pupunha (heart of the palm tree).

It is necessary to develop a work with the vision of Brazilian production of native species valuing our culture and mainly bringing more life to the planet. Brazil has a multitude of native species, all with nutritional qualities superior to many market products. In this way, our proposal of work is a change of focus. We chose, initially, 10 native species of our biomes: Manioc and Pine Fruit (Pampas), Juçara (Atlantic Forest), Licuri (Caatinga), Macauba and Buriti (Pantanal), Cocoa and Brazil Nut (Amazon), Chestnut Pequi and Baru (Cerrado). We visited certified producers internationally, so we could build with them a line of products focused on healthy eating. All products are native, organic and with provenance. The market that values organic products the most is also the most demanding regarding the origin of these products: Europe. We chose to follow and obey the harsh laws of this market right from the beginning of our operations (even though it was easier to operate in other countries) due to the potential consumer of European countries being greater than the rest of the world. The requirement of high quality worked as a propellant of our actions, rather than an inhibitor.

So, the launching of the brand will be in one of the most prestigious events of gastronomy in the European market, SIAL PARIS. And, on October 21, 2018, we will launch Brazil Tasty with 10 producers already enrolled in our platform. We created a platform with an innovative format, a different structure: B2L2B. In this structure, we have RURAL PRODUCER + LOGISTIC OPERATOR + INTERNATIONAL BUYER.. Thus, business relationships will be established, and everyone can negotiate in a simple and fast way. The platform is integrated with the DU-E and Intra. Thus, in addition to cargo handling, our operation includes the customs clearance integrated with the competent agencies.

In this model, we break the barriers between producers and buyers, we create opportunities for operators who - with a transparent system - can offer the buyer several freight price options.

Brazil Tasty seeks to generate good business for family farmers, logistics operators and bring health to end consumers with agility of processes and transparent procedures. The team in Brazil curates the producers and elaborates the internationalization plan, including multiple tasks such as training of producers and development of packaging. Also administrative and financial management, like IT and developers team.

In addition to our headquarters in Brazil, we will have an office in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where our International Relations Manager will hire and train teams throughout Europe to promote Brazil Tasty products. Logistics control will run at Netherlands.