Native – Usina São Francisco

In 1982, we started a highly effective biologic control system for the most important sugarcane plague in Brazil, the sugarcane borer. In 1986, we started a reforestation program aiming to protect our water resources and create biodiversity islands in our farms. We have already planted more than 1 million native trees in our farms, completely recovering our ciliary forests. Also in 1986, we started activities towards avoiding the straw burning before sugarcane harvesting. We invested over six million dollars in developing a mechanical harvester, systematizing the sugarcane fields for green cane mechanized harvesting, people empowerment and technical research. The new system evolved fast, and the last sugarcane burned in our fields was in 1994. It is important to highlight that avoiding burning provided strong mulch – sugarcane straw leftovers can add up to 20 metric tons of dry matter per year to the soil, recycling nutrients and providing better conditions to soil micro-fauna. We also carried out a soil fertility-building program, based on sensible use of our agro industrial organic effluents. Another important parts of our fertilization system are green manure crop rotation with leguminous plants to add biomass and nutrients to the soil through symbiosis and the use of powdered rocks to add macro, micro and oligo elements to the soil. We believe soil fertility is a combination of chemical, biological and physical factors, so we also control the soil compaction by using special high flotation tires and tracks in all equipment entering the sugarcane fields. In 1995, we started converting our sugarcane fields into the organic production system. Since then we stopped using synthetic chemical pesticides and fertilizers.