in english – O Joio e O Trigo

Flávio Bolsonaro’s platform ignores Brazil’s main anti-hunger policies

João Peres — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 13:25:36 +0000

No policy of real increases in the minimum wage. No Food Procurement Program (PAA), school meals, water cisterns in Brazil’s Semiarid region, or family farming. The government platform of far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, ignores Brazil’s main policies for promoting food and nutrition security. Across its 76 pages, the document also makes no mention…

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Brazilian Banks Finance R$44 Million in Soy Production on Disputed Land in Brazil’s Cerrado

Bruna Bronoski — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 13:00:00 +0000

“They would come in before dawn. By the time you noticed, the damage was already done. When we got there, they’d stop. We’d call the police, and when they [the officers] came, they’d still side with them [the tractor operators], who had the paperwork,” says Edvaldo Dutra, a resident of the Veredão settlement, recalling the episodes of forest destruction that tore through bacuri groves — a native…

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Ultra-Processed Food Industry Turns to the Courts to Delay Public Health Policies, International Investigation Reveals

Thalita Pires — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:17:11 +0000

The world’s largest food and beverage manufacturers, along with the trade associations that represent them, have turned to the courts to delay, weaken, or prevent policies aimed at promoting healthier eating. An international investigation involving O Joio e O Trigo identified 239 legal challenges against public health measures in six countries between 2010 and 2025. The lawsuits were filed…

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Brazil tames hunger as the world falls behind

Thalita Pires — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 13:00:00 +0000

While global hunger remains above 2015 levels, Brazil is moving in the opposite direction. A new report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 7.8% of the world’s population was undernourished in 2025. In Brazil, the figure dropped below 2.5% over the 2023–2025 period, keeping the country off the Hunger Map. The sharpest improvement came in severe food…

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How Brazil’s Agribusiness Became “Pop”

João Peres — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000

In 2017, the audience at the Global Agribusiness Forum Talks in São Paulo witnessed a rare scene: a senior Globo executive — the most influential television network in Brazil and a historic force in shaping the national imagination — took the stage to explain the strategy behind an unprecedented campaign in the company’s history. The campaign was called Agro, a indústria-riqueza do Brasil…

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Amazon Initiative Replaces Ultra-Processed Foods with Traditional School Meals

Erick Gimenes — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 13:00:00 +0000

An expedition to the remote Pico da Neblina, in São Gabriel da Cachoeira (Amazonas), in 2016, intrigued federal prosecutor Fernando Merloto Soave, of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF): if it took him, a man weighing 80 kilograms, nearly three days to reach the site, how could hundreds of kilograms of school meals possibly make that same journey to supply schools in such isolated…

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The invisible labor that keeps solidarity kitchens running

Flávia Schiochet — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:24:50 +0000

It’s 9 a.m., and the smell of beans drifts through the entrance of Nova Esperança Occupation, in southern São Paulo. It comes from Instituto Cuca, run by Zenilda Silva – known to everyone by her nickname, Cuca – and ripples through the narrow alleys until it reaches the steep slope leading into the community, an access road appropriately named Cuca Street. The steam billowing from the pots serves…

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Lula’s third administration revives hunger-combat policies, but limited funding constrains results

Thalita Pires — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 19:18:13 +0000

When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office for his third term as president of Brazil in January 2023, the landscape left behind by the Temer and Bolsonaro administrations in terms of food-related policies was one of devastation. Since the parliamentary coup that deposed former President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, the country had witnessed the gutting of institutions and programs that had helped…

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What Is “Agronegocinho” — Brazil’s Agribusiness Lite?

Flávia Schiochet — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 18:39:57 +0000

A farmer who uses all 20 hectares of his land to grow corn and applies pesticides regularly. A land reform settler leases out their plot for soybean production, even though the practice is prohibited. A family that gives up growing food for its own consumption in order to expand its herd and sell cattle to a large meatpacking company. Three situations, one phenomenon: agronegocinho (a Brazilian…

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Cattle and soy capture 47% of family farming funds over three decades

Flávia Schiochet — Tue, 19 May 2026 12:30:00 +0000

The National Program for Strengthening Family Farming (Pronaf) celebrates its 31st anniversary in 2026. Significant changes have occurred since its launch: interest rates have decreased while the volume of resources has increased year after year, reaching a record R$ 78.2 billion for the 2025–26 crop season. Interest rates, which stood at 16% per year in 1995, now range from 0.5% to 8%.

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