These Brazilian tree farmers are saving the Amazon forest
Every year, we see pictures of the Amazon going up in smoke as cattle ranching expands into the rainforest, turning forest into pasture. But we don’t always get the full range of the story on the ground. In our latest piece, from northwest Brazil, Brian Barth and Flávia Milhorance report on an agroforestry cooperative, RECA, that is planting fruit trees to counter the deforestation around them and in the process mimicking the ecosystem of the original forest. This story, produced with National Geographic, extends our biodiversity reporting initiative.
“One thing that stands out — these forests are just beautiful,” Brian told me. “Anywhere you go on the road in the Amazon, you don’t actually see the forest because it has been cleared. So you only see the forest in the distance. But at RECA, you come across incredibly beautiful forests as you drive by.”
From drone images to shots of the farms, that beauty was captured in the striking work of Brazilian photojournalist Luisa Dörr. She also took portraits of the farmers, who against the odds created this venture and expanded it to several hundred families. The co-op sells ingredients to companies that use them in cosmetics and creams, but it also produces fruit and pulp used in juices, such as açai berries.
Brian said the reporting was challenging — this wasn’t agro-tourism. Their four-wheel drive got stuck repeatedly in muddy potholes, once for two hours. Then there were the accommodations. “We stayed in one hotel that didn’t have any windows, it was super rough. One room I got was full of mosquitos; when I told the hotel clerk he pointed to a bottle of bug spray on the counter.”
But the trip was fruitful. Flávia, who is Brazilian, led the interviews; Brian, who speaks a bit of Portuguese, was able to follow along and ask questions. From the farmers they got the story of the venture, and also of the violence in the region, which has faced the third-highest rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. But the story suggests that ventures like this, if expanded, could be an alternative to that narrative, creating an economically viable agriculture that renews the forest instead of cutting it down.