{"id":60042070,"date":"2024-07-16T12:55:22","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T11:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?post_type=photo_story&p=60042070"},"modified":"2025-04-04T18:22:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T17:22:30","slug":"southern-brazils-farmers-on-the-frontline-of-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"photo_story","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/climate\/southern-brazils-farmers-on-the-frontline-of-climate-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern Brazil\u2019s farmers, on the frontline of climate crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It took 15 days before Roselei dos Santos Porto could muster the courage to return to her fields after they had been submerged by the floods<\/a> that affected almost the entire state of Rio Grande do Sul in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 44-year-old farmer had managed to return to her home in Eldorado do Sul, on the outskirts of Porto Alegre, the capital of Brazil\u2019s most southernmost state. But she didn\u2019t have the strength to set foot into what was now but a patch of compacted black earth, where just weeks earlier a colourful plantation of vegetables, legumes and tubers had stood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she decided to finally inspect her fields on Friday 1 June, accompanied by Dialogue Earth, Porto cried. \u201cOn Fridays, it was the day to fill the lorry with vegetables for the market,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"woman<\/div>
Roselei dos Santos Porto returns for the first time to her farm in Eldorado do Sul, on the outskirts of Porto Alegre, 15 days after the destructive floods (Image: Anna Ortega \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"empty<\/div>
Barren fields on Porto\u2019s settlement, where organic vegetables and legumes used to grow. At the edges of the field, marks on the trees attest to the depth of flooding (Image: Anna Ortega \/ Dialogue Earth) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The flood left no trace of her family\u2019s organic plantation. But the elephant grass trees around the plot, about three metres high, bore the mark of the waters: only their tops remained green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The floods were considered to be the worst environmental disaster<\/a> in the history of Rio Grande do Sul. Torrential rains began at the end of April and persisted for almost a month and a half, causing rivers to overflow, hillsides to collapse, and flooding in cities situated on plains, especially in the Taquari Valley in the state\u2019s interior, and in the Porto Alegre metropolitan area. By the beginning of July, there had been at least 180 deaths<\/a>, with more than 30 people still missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The settlement Porto calls home is one of many across Brazil belonging to or occupied by the Landless Workers\u2019 Movement (MST), an agrarian reform movement that is estimated to count more than 1.5 million members. In the Porto Alegre metropolitan area, the floods have reportedly led to more than 170 families in MST settlements losing<\/a> their entire crop. The flooding of the Jacu\u00ed River, which flows through Eldorado do Sul, wiped out the facilities of one such workers\u2019 cooperative, as well as machinery at P\u00e3o na Terra, an organic bakery that was founded in a settlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"stacked<\/div>
At a facility of the Landless Workers\u2019 Movement (MST) in Eldorado do Sul, a large part of the food stock, including rice and beans, was destroyed (Image: Rafa Dotti \/ MST)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"man<\/div>
Members of the MST cooperative clean glass containers in an attempt to salvage them. The depth reached by flood waters can still be seen on the walls of the facility (Image: Rafa Dotti \/ MST)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Across six affected MST settlements, more than 2,300 hectares of rice crops were destroyed, totalling more than BRL 10 million (USD 1.8 million) in damage, according to preliminary figures from the MST<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Brazil\u2019s largest agricultural producers and its leading rice producer, Rio Grande do Sul has been on the frontline of climate crisis in recent years: this is the seventh extreme event since 2020. Long spells of drought in three successive years<\/a> have each been followed by floods, which have together created seriously challenging conditions for agriculture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the impacts have been felt for even longer in the state. \u201cEvery four years since 2005, we\u2019ve had to start all over again,\u201d said Marcia Riva, one of the founders of P\u00e3o na Terra. As well as seeing her company\u2019s kitchen flooded, Riva lost her own crop of shimeji mushrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"woman<\/div>
Marcia Riva, founder of the P\u00e3o na Terra organic bakery, holds her cat, which had gone missing during the floods. On the MST settlement where her business is located, many animals were lost, mostly chickens, cows and dogs (Image: Anna Ortega \/ Dialogue Earth) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Research has suggested<\/a> that climate change may be leading to stronger El Ni\u00f1o and La Ni\u00f1a events, the weather patterns that arise as a result of changes in Pacific Ocean temperatures \u2013 recent episodes which have brought devastating effects in Rio Grande do Sul. A recent study<\/a> by researchers from five countries shows that global warming has also doubled the chances of heavy rainfall in a short space of time in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The severe droughts of 2020 to 2023 were influenced by La Ni\u00f1a, which also affected neighbouring Argentina<\/a> and Uruguay<\/a>. Last year, with the arrival of the El Ni\u00f1o pattern, there were three floods: in June<\/a>, September<\/a> and November<\/a>, which left more than 70 people dead, mostly in the Taquari and Ca\u00ed valleys, also in the centre of Rio Grande do Sul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers reluctant to quit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Across three days, Dialogue Earth travelled through five cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul to understand the impacts of climate extremes on small producers. Despite the most recent shock, most say that they do not want to give up on farming, but are hoping for increased support to continue working on the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"field<\/div>
On the road to the Taquari Valley in Rio Grande do Sul, many devastated crops are seen. The floods affected 56% of the 365,000 rural properties in the state (Image: Anna Ortega \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A proposed bill<\/a> to extend the repayment deadlines on loans held by producers affected by the floods is currently under discussion in the national congress. In addition, the Ministry of Agrarian Development has announced<\/a> a BRL 600 million (USD 110 million) fund for victims to access federal credit lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 3 July, the federal government also announced incentives for rural producers, as it does every year with its annual agricultural plan, the Safra Plan. But this time saw more than BRL 400 billion<\/a> (USD 73 million) earmarked for the country\u2019s large and medium-sized producers, almost four times more than to family-run farms<\/a>, which will receive BRL 86 billion<\/a> (USD 15.8 billion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo no one\u2019s surprise, the amount allocated to family farming remains hugely unequal to that allocated to agribusiness. It\u2019s not fair,\u201d said Mariana Campos, Greenpeace Brazil\u2019s agroecology coordinator, in a statement released in response to the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The floods affected 56% of the 365,000 rural properties in Rio Grande do Sul. Emater, the federal agency for rural technical assistance, has highlighted how the damage has been most pronounced in areas where family farming predominates, such as the Porto Alegre metropolitan region and the Taquari and Ca\u00ed valleys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"demolished<\/div>
Roca Sales, in the Taquari Valley, has suffered four large floods in the past ten months. Federal government measures in response to these events may not be enough to rebuild agriculture in Rio Grande do Sul, experts say (Image: Anna Ortega \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

However, the federal government\u2019s measures may not be enough to rebuild agriculture in Rio Grande do Sul, which is already facing an intense rural exodus and the retirement of its workforce. It is reported that more than half of all farms in the state are run by people aged 55<\/a> or over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agricultural censuses show that family farming is already losing ground. The number of small properties in this sector fell from around 378,000 in 2006<\/a> to 294,000 in 2017<\/a>, the most recent survey, representing a 22% drop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithout a public policy of debt forgiveness and financing with an [extension of the grace period] and low interest rates, many will not return to production, nor will there be a stimulus to succession,\u201d said forestry engineer Ernestino Guarino, a researcher at Embrapa, a federal government agency focused on agricultural innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embrapa has created a platform to estimate the impacts and propose a new model of agriculture that is more resilient to the climate. But Guarino says that \u201cthe next few months will be decisive\u201d as to whether the activity will lose even more ground, and this will depend on what actions are taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recommended<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/a>\n\n\n\n

There is a consensus among the experts interviewed by Dialogue Earth that there is a need to correct funding inequalities between small and large producers, who have easier access to credit, to encourage the recovery of degraded areas<\/a> and the adoption of sustainable practices, as well as to strengthen support agencies such as Emater and Embrapa. Without this combination, they say, producers will not recover from this latest setback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere needs to be a push for a new agro-ecological production model, with respect for environmental legislation, which financially rewards the farmer who preserves,\u201d said S\u00e9rgio Schneider, professor of postgraduate studies in rural development at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and a consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agronomist Pedro Selbach, a professor in the soils department at UFRGS, together with colleagues from the university, estimated losses of BRL 19.4 billion<\/a> (USD 3.5 billion) as the immediate impact of the 2024 floods on family farming, due to the loss of crops and output. The impacts of losses in soil fertility were estimated at more than BRL 6 billion (USD 1.1 billion), with such changes likely to have more lasting and damaging effects in the long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In many areas, the force of the downpours took away soils\u2019 arable layer or completely modified their properties, says agronomist Pedro Selbach (Image: Anna Ortega \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was severe damage to the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the soils,\u201d said Selbach, explaining that the force of the downpour took away their arable layer or completely modified their properties in areas that were flooded for weeks. \u201cMany areas that were arable are now no longer arable, some may take 400 years to recover.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A survey by Cleberton Bianchini, of the Pro-Riparian Forest Movement of the Taquari Valley, has shown an intense destruction of permanent preservation areas (APPs), which protect vegetation near watercourses under national law. More than half of the APPs on the banks of 140 kilometres of the Taquari River, which cuts through the region, have reportedly been converted into pastures, plantations or urban infrastructure \u2013 in some cases, before the protection was incorporated in 2012<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, from 1985 to 2022, the state lost<\/a> 22% of its native vegetation, and a third of this destruction occurred in the basin of the Gua\u00edba lake, upon which Porto Alegre sits, and which stretches southward over several cities. In the same period, soy production, forestry and the urbanised area all increased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A preliminary survey by Selbach and colleagues assessed the relationship between deforestation and flooding. If the banks of the Gua\u00edba lake had been preserved, the study estimates that river levels would have been as much as 1.5 metres lower, which could have prevented the recent flooding of Porto Alegre, where half of all neighbourhoods were submerged<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mud and rock cover fields<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Mu\u00e7um, in the Taquari Valley, the unprecedented overflow of the Guapor\u00e9 River devastated the property of the Canal family, who have been growing hay for over 40 years. The 748 millimetres<\/a> of rain in three days at the end of April, more than five times the average for the whole month<\/a>, caused rocks to slide down from the hills, covering a dam and part of the family\u2019s pasture. \u201cIf there were no rocks, it would be mud,\u201d said Ezequiel Canal, 32, pointing to his buried field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"two<\/div>
Father and son Izair (left) and Ezequiel Canal (right) walk on their property, where a rock slide from the hills covered part of the family\u2019s pasture.\u00a0After having suffered three floods, they now plan to leave their land (Image: Anna Ortega \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The downpour washed away 340 bails of hay, representing a loss of BRL 165,000 (USD 30,000) for the family. Ironically, it ripped out their underground irrigation system, imported from Israel for BRL 250,000 (USD 46,000) to guard against drought, but which was never used. \u201cDuring the drought, we spent three years earning 40% less each year,\u201d Ezequiel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adair Jos\u00e9 Villa, president of the Mu\u00e7um Rural Workers\u2019 Union, adds: \u201cOne day of flooding has spoilt more than three years of drought.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standing on the rocks, next to an aluminium shed with a roof twisted by the torrent, Ezequiel and his father Izair, 65, say they plan to leave their land. \u201cYou can survive one flood, but not three,\u201d said Izair, who experienced his first flood less than a year ago. This time, he and his wife, Ana, took refuge inside the backhoe of a digger for a day and a half awaiting rescue, while they watched their property being submerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 15 kilometres south of Mu\u00e7um, the municipality of Encantado also suffered from the overflow of streams like the Jacarezinho, which isolated a rural community occupied by small dairy and pig farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mauro Vieira Marques, a farmer in the Encantado municipality, stands among the rubble of two sheds destroyed on his property. He and his wife used to produce artisan cheeses and eggs, as well as growing fruit and vegetables (Image: Anna Ortega \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Mauro Vieira Marques, 65, lost two dairy cows, two bullocks and 150 chickens and young hens, swept away by the current. Of all his stock, only one cow remained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The farmer and his wife, Ivete Justina, ran a half-hectare property where they produced artisan cheeses and eggs, as well as growing fruit and vegetables. \u201cThere aren\u2019t even any fruit trees left,\u201d said Mauro, looking out over a bare field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we met, Mauro was standing amidst the rubble of what was left of two small sheds, which housed freezers for storing cheese, a milk drum and an aviary. \u201cThis used to be a paradise, now it looks like a bomb went off,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple\u2019s two children live far away. \u201cThey insist that we leave, but our life is here,\u201d he said. Mauro and Ivete intend to rebuild their house on higher ground and start again slowly, although they are still heartbroken. \u201cHow can we stay if the river doesn\u2019t even have a bed anymore?\u201d he said, looking at a stream that now sprawls shapelessly over a flooded area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"mattresses<\/div>
The fields and streets of Encantado are filled with pieces of furniture left out to dry. Many producer families in the valley wish to stay but describe great losses (Image: Anna Ortega \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Three kilometres from the couple\u2019s property, the Gonzatti family felt the effects of the flood despite living higher up in the hills. The landslides spared their more than 1,100 pigs, but isolated their property for 18 days, leaving it without electricity or water. The situation forced brothers Josu\u00e9 and Jonathan to walk four kilometres a day to feed the animals with the little feed they had left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lorenzon family, who have been pig farmers for three generations, also suffered losses. The flood hit just as they were loading pigs onto a lorry for slaughter, and a collapsed barrier prevented transport. There was also no way to buy more feed, and there was little in stock. \u201cWe had to ration the feed, and we lost 13 animals [to starvation],\u201d said Gustavo Lorenzon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since deciding to follow the family tradition in 2021, 37-year-old Lorenzon has suffered from droughts and floods, as well as the high price of grains used for pig feed. The Covid-19 pandemic, impacts from the war in Ukraine<\/a> and droughts have caused<\/a> the price of corn to temporarily double, and soy to rise by 60%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to stay in the business, it\u2019s our vocation, but we\u2019re very much at the mercy of the weather,\u201d said the pig farmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"woman<\/div>
Vanusa Kaiper, a fisher and resident of the Arquip\u00e9lago neighbourhood, looks at the city of Porto Alegre across the Gua\u00edba lake. Her house suffered damage and work materials such as nets were lost in the floods (Image: Anna Ortega \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By mid-June, some producers were still unable to return to their homes, which remained flooded. This was the case for Vanusa and Isa\u00edas Kaiper, fishers and residents of the Arquip\u00e9lago neighbourhood in the greater Porto Alegre area. They had gone two months without fishing in Lake Gua\u00edba. \u201cThe fish are contaminated from eating dead animals and rubbish,\u201d Isa\u00edas told Dialoge Earth in June. \u201cWe can\u2019t fish now, we have to wait.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, the floods do not worry him as much as the drought, which in 2022 caused the fish to disappear. \u201cWe had to buy fish to resell,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the couple are not thinking of giving up, despite the adverse weather conditions. \u201cOur life is here, we raised our daughters on fishing and we\u2019re going to carry on,\u201d said Vanusa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insurance claims are piling up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On one of the tables at the Emater office in Encantado, an in-tray of papers almost a metre deep reveals the size of the problem of continuing farming: these are cases for Proagro, a kind of insurance issued by the federal government to suspend financial obligations in the event of extreme weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUntil 2013, farmers in the region didn\u2019t even know what Proagro was,\u201d says agronomist Eduardo Mariotti Gon\u00e7alves, who is responsible for providing technical assistance to 300 rural properties in the municipality. Now, he says, they \u201ccan hardly cope\u201d with the number of requests and inspections to obtain insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be eligible for Proagro, producers need to plant according to the Agricultural Zoning for Climate Risk (Zarc), a federal government mapping guideline that indicates risks and the appropriate crops for each area. If a producer plants outside the Zarc limits, they are not entitled to insurance. But Gon\u00e7alves was particularly concerned about the supply of insurance after so many disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the floods in May, Rio Grande do Sul is projected to face a drier<\/a> second half of the year, with the expected arrival of another La Ni\u00f1a period. But the risk of flooding could return at the turn of 2025, according to the National Centre for Monitoring and Alerts on Natural Disasters. \u201cMore than ever, farmers will need to make their decisions based on the climate,\u201d said Pedro Selbach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yasmmin Ferreira<\/a> also contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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