The Brazilian division of our partner Royal De Heus has recently visited the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor and seen every single one of the projects that they are currently contributing to. The visit lasted three days, and included trips to the new BJF nursery, our restoration sites, and meeting the Araguaia Seed Collection Collective.
The 13 members of the Royal De Heus team that travelled with us to Santana do Araguaia showed great enthusiasm throughout the visit and even helped us plant some trees and grow seedlings in our new nursery!
They were all incredibly excited to see the project and the positive socio environmental impact that it is generating in action.
HAVE A LOOK AT THEIR VISIT IN ACTION:
After the visit, Edmilson Ribeiro, the director of Human resources for De Heus Brasil, shared with us the following words:
“We cannot find the words to describe how happy we are with all that we saw last week. We feel incredibly proud of this partnership and the positive impact on nature that we are promoting. Simply amazing”.
We are incredibly touched by these warm words, and grateful for all of the support that Royal De Heus has provided over the years!
VISITING THE NEW BJF NURSERY: NURTURING NATIVE SEEDLINGS
De Heus was once of our greatest supporters in building the new BJF nursery, which will have the capacity to grow 500 thousand native tree seedlings annually! That’s why we decided to start our tour of the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor with a symbolic inauguration of the BJF nursery.
In the following day, our nursery team, led by our seed production analyst Norivânia Diniz, walked the De Heus team through some of the main activities conducted in the nursery and provided an explanation of how we grow healthy seedlings to become resilient trees.
We also organised some more practical activities, where our partners got their hands dirty, helped us germinate many seeds, and even planted their own trees!
HAVE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE ACTIVITES BELOW:
FOLLOWING THE GROWTH OF OUR PLANTED TREES
In the afternoon, we visited some the areas being restored in the Santa Fé farm and our field coordinator, Carlos Eduardo Oliveira, explained the different planting techniques currently being used in different areas. We could already see significant growth of native vegetation planted 12 and 24 months ago!
Throughout the planting activities, the De Heus team also saw some of the biodiversity present in the region and was inspired by all of the beauty that nature provides.
CASEARA’S FIRE BRIGADE IN ACTION
During the dry season, the Araguaia region is prone to forest fires. This makes fire prevention and control incredibly important. De Heus is aware of this, and therefore supported us in creating Caseara’s first fire brigade!
We were able to visit the fire brigade – which is already in motion and considered to be one of the most active brigades in the region – present our partners to the volunteer fire fighters, and speak to Paulo Roberto, Caseara’s secretary of environment and tourism.
It was inspiring to see the brigade in action, working to contain fires. A big thank you to De Heus for making this possible!
HAVE A LOOK AT US VISITING CASEARA’S FIRE BRIGADE
FIRST STEPS TOWARDS THE ARAGUAIA SEED COLLECTION COLLECTIVE
The Araguaia Seed collection collective is another one of our projects supported by De Heus, which will have a massive impact on this and in future planting seasons!
Despite this being a recently established initiative, the De Heus team was already able to collect seeds, participate in the first purchases of seeds, and talk to some of our seed collectors!
Our longstanding partnership with De Heus
With the global demand for food on the rise, feeding the planet while safeguarding our ecosystems is an ever-growing challenge.
Our longstanding partner Royal De Heus is working to help farmers produce food more efficiently, in a way that safeguards natural resources as much as possible. That’s why they have chosen to support the Black Jaguar Foundation in realising the Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor!
On August 17 2021 De Heus Animal Nutrition signed a long-term partnership with the Black Jaguar Foundation to support our efforts in realising one of the longest nature corridors on earth: The Araguaia Biodiversity Corridor.
We are incredibly grateful to De Heus for all of their support. Thanks to them and many of our other wonderful partners, we have been able to make great progress with the new BJF nursery, collect many seeds with the Araguaia Seed Collection Collective, and train capable firefighters to protect our planted trees!
This partnership will certainly play an important role in bringing together agriculture and environment! We are excited to see the ever-growing trust placed on our organisation, and hopeful for all the milestones that will certainly come with it.
