Growing from the ground up/
Carla Mayara Borges de Lima on the Brazilian pulses industry

Tell us a little about your background.

I come from a family of rural producers and was raised on the farm but my mother was an English teacher. She graduated with a double diploma in business administration from FAE Business School and Fachhochschule Münster in Germany. I've always been interested in international business and upon returning to Brazil to work in the family business - large-scale grain production - I spent over five years looking for ways to link the rural world with the international one. In 2017 I joined an international research program called Nuffield, where I had the opportunity to visit 8 countries for 16 weeks and develop research in the area of pulses and alternative cultures. Returning to work, I immediately started to implement pulses and special grains on the property until we became exporters of beans and sesame seeds.

What have been the biggest successes of your career?

Being able to dedicate time to research and self-development. My family culture has always understood work as being present wherever you are. My challenge was to face this paradigm and use my “working hours” to research new businesses, travel, see other properties, meet people, and research businesses. This is my main differentiating factor: I have knowledge and a network that many people often don’t take the time to build.


What is it like to be a business manager at a prominent company like Fazenda Nova Geração?

I have a lot of room for innovation and room to test and make mistakes before getting it right. It is this philosophy that allows us to adapt to the times and stay ahead in our business. It's a big responsibility, sometimes it's stressful, but it's a job where I feel I perform professionally.

Tell us a little about Fazenda Nova Geração.

FNG has existed since 2011 and this name and structure came after my parents separated professionally from my uncles. However, the family has been in the farming business since the time of my great-grandparents, or even before. We grow soybeans, corn, sorghum, white corn, mung beans, red bamboo beans, sesame seeds and flaxseed.

How has the pandemic impacted the bean sector in Brazil?

In my opinion, it impacted consumption as beans became more expensive. With the increase in the price of soy and corn, bean
areas ended up decreasing, which reduced production. Then, on top of that, we had a very dry year, which further decreased crop productivity.

How have exports been impacted? Has international consumption changed after Covid-19?

In my view, trade decreased at the beginning of the pandemic due to traders' fears of consumption restriction. Afterwards, normality returned but prices traded in 2021 were higher because of global inflation. I also noticed an increase in demand, which I believe is receding now at the end of 2021.

Does the political climate in Brazil interfere in any way with agro-business?

For the agricultural industry, political issues do generate instability but we do not credit the political instability exclusively to the President of the Republic, the blame falls largely on the political machine itself and the lack of unity between the executive, legislative and judiciary powers that unfortunately exists in our political climate. What we urgently need for agriculture is that these three powers are able to combine to support the agricultural industry because it’s an important tool to fight food insecurity. It’s the rural farmers who best preserve nature and the biomass and it is worth remembering that the trade balance surplus is linked to agriculture and that it corresponds to more than 1 quarter of the GDP.

Another crucial point is for us to have greater tax and judicial stability in Brazil through administrative and political reforms, such as the extinction of the Party Fund and new laws that actually stimulate national development. We need to create and encourage companies that can benefit our commodities and add value so that we can become more competitive on the global stage.

Can you give us an idea of bean consumption by geographic area in Brazil?

In the South, Southeast and Midwest, they consume black and carioca beans while in the Northeast, they consume a lot of cowpeas. For mung, red bamboo, red and other smaller beans, production is more directed to the international market.

How can bean seed quality be guaranteed?

Investing in good management: planting certified seeds, using pesticides that have good control of insects and weeds, using machines to break the grain a little at harvest time and, of course, good sunny days at harvest always help! Every year, there is new technology that helps us to grow better crops. From precision farming to weather apps, there’s so much - it’s hard to keep up.

What research are you currently carrying out for new crops?

We have research in the public sector, through Embrapa and IAC, and in the private sector, too. With beans, we have the problem of being smaller growers and so they suffer from a lack of investment.

What challenges does a farm with high demand volumes face in a country as big as Brazil?

There are many. Access and logistics are difficult, lack of bridges, asphalt, electricity... Then there’s the challenge of dealing with labour and environmental legislation made by people who do not understand the reality and particularity of each region of Brazil and our business. Our country lacks economic freedom, which also increases our cost of inputs and machines. Being an entrepreneur in Brazil is for the brave.

How do you see the future of pulse production in Brazil?

It’s growing. Brazilian farmers are specialists in producing more crops with the same amount of land. In addition, there are various degraded pasture lands that are being converted, which is excellent, as these are already open areas that are underutilized because they are in regions with less rain or worse soil. What technology and research have brought us is the possibility of cultivating in these less noble lands and having very satisfactory yields.

Do you have a funny or interesting story to share from all your years in the industry?

When I moved at the age of 24 to Água Boa to open a new agricultural front, I came alone. Whenever I went to the city to visit workshops or pesticide resellers, for example, people always asked me where my husband or my father was. Everyone was very surprised that I came to live alone in a city so far away to work in a mostly male area. I had a lot of fun with it and I think it was really cool to break those established notions of gender.