The launch of Embrapa’s Low Carbon Corn (LCC) and Low Carbon Sorghum (LCSg) programs marks an important step in advancing sustainable agricultural production in Brazil. These initiatives provide practical responses to the impacts of climate change while creating new opportunities for Brazilian corn and sorghum to compete in markets with growing sustainability requirements.
The programs aim to develop and validate certification protocols for the Low Carbon Corn and Low Carbon Sorghum concept brands, grounded in scientific evidence and aligned with international standards. The projects include parameters designed to distinguish and add value to corn and sorghum produced through sustainable practices and technologies.
At their core, the initiatives will rely on technical and scientific criteria to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity per ton of grain produced.
“The calculation will be possible through the validation of technical guidelines for the certification protocol. After the protocol validation by Embrapa and partners, certification may take place. Such certification steps will be voluntary, private, and performed by third parties, following the MRV (Measurement, Reporting, and Verification) system,” Embrapa Maize and Sorghum researcher Arystides Resende Silva says.
“The public notices for the Low Carbon Corn and Low Carbon Sorghum programs encourage the adoption of more resilient production systems and promote the transition to a sustainable economy,” researcher Alexandre Ferreira da Silva adds.
“We know that we face a major global challenge, which is climate change. In this scenario, Embrapa understands that decarbonizing crop and livestock production is one of the biggest challenges in Brazilian agriculture,” Ferreira says.
Recognizing this need, Embrapa has been at the forefront of developing solutions such as the Low Carbon Beef (LCB), Low Carbon Soybeans (LCS), and Low Carbon Wheat (LCW) concept brands. Additional advances include the creation of tools and calculators to estimate the carbon footprint of agricultural products through life cycle assessment (LCA) within production systems. The teams behind these initiatives are also contributing to the development of the Low Carbon Corn (LCC) and Low Carbon Sorghum (LCSg) brands, helping ensure greater speed, consistency, and precision in the process. Alongside Embrapa Maize and Sorghum, researchers from Embrapa Environment and Embrapa Soybean are also involved, according to a press release.
Development, validation, and implementation of certification seals
The work will be carried out in two phases. Phase 1, focused on development and innovation, aims to create the protocols for Low Carbon Corn and Low Carbon Sorghum and register them with the relevant authority, Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Supply (Mapa).
For that purpose, guidelines will be elaborated. “The goal is to identify which corn and sorghum types offer the highest production efficiency per emitted unit of carbon. Such distinction will become an encouragement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and does not entail any loss of crop productivity,” Resende says.
The guidelines will be validated during their three-year production cycle at observation units, in locations to be indicated by the supporting institutions. “Each area will generate information on inputs and mechanized operations, as well as the on carbon balance in the soil, in order to calculate greenhouse gas emissions for the entire production process,” researcher Ciro Augusto de Souza Magalhães reports.
In the second phase, the certification seal will be implemented in the market through accredited certifiers, according to a commercial exploitation model to be defined by Embrapa.
