Santa Fe presented "Santa Fe Produce Sustentable", a state-run, digital and free platform to certify farms with no deforestation after 2021, as an alternative to the private Visec system. It registers 330 establishments and 403,021 hectares, and the government claims that 99.6% of the province's territory produces without deforestation.
The province of Santa Fe presented on Tuesday "Santa Fe Produce Sustentable", a state-run, digital and free platform to certify that rural establishments have not recorded deforestation after 2021, a requirement imposed by European Union Regulation 1115 and due to take effect on January 1. The tool, presented to the province's agricultural associations, is positioned as the official alternative to Visec, the private system that until now concentrated this type of certification.
According to the official release, "it is a digital and free system that certifies that agricultural products come from rural establishments free of deforestation. It is the alternative to Visec, a private registry." The provincial government stressed that the initiative makes Santa Fe a "global pioneer", since until now states had remained on the sidelines of these certifications, which were limited to the private sphere.
In the beef chain, Visec is promoted by the ABC Consortium of exporting meatpackers with support from IPCVA, while in soy it is administered by the agroexporters of Ciara-CEC with support from the Rosario Stock Exchange and environmental organizations. Some meatpacking companies have already anticipated "penalties" in prices for cattle that lack certification, while in soy there is for now talk of premiums for crops certified as deforestation-free.
Currently, the provincial platform registers 330 establishments with 403,021 hectares under production, a minimal portion of the potential. The Santa Fe government claims that 99.6% of the provincial territory produces without deforestation and can be fully eligible for Europe.
The presentation took place days before the assembly convened at the Sociedad Rural de Santa Fe by the sectors most reluctant to accept the private system. Producers who oppose Visec argue that the system will handle sensitive information that could be used by some sectors to impose conditions on others.
Minister of Productive Development Gustavo Puccini called a meeting to detail how the tool works and to seek greater uptake that would justify the provincial investment. "This proposal that we have been working on from the Government of Santa Fe seeks to support producers in the face of the new environmental requirements of international markets, in an agile way, at no cost to them and with full seriousness. It is one more tool we are creating to offer alternatives that serve our producers," he stressed.
For the Province, the requirement to certify deforestation-free origin "does not respond to a merely voluntary commercial agreement between companies, but to a direct regulatory imposition by the EU", which "legally obliges its importers to demand this traceability." "Therefore, state intervention is indispensable to guarantee clear rules, broaden options for producers and defend the competitiveness of the sector," Santa Fe officials maintained.
With that stance, the provincial government distances itself from the strategy of national Secretary of Agriculture Sergio Iraeta, who is described as passive and disengaged, and who in the face of complaints from some producers only authorized the coexistence of alternative systems to Visec.
Santa Fe explained that its idea is to implement "the same method used in the defense of biodiesel", when the Province led a public-private front to reverse the European Union's intention to classify Argentine soy as an input of high environmental risk. "With Santa Fe Produce Sustentable, the goal is the same: to defend primary production with official data and technical rigor."
Puccini stressed that "our tool, unique in the country, is there to provide certainty and generate alternatives. The system guarantees traceability and highlights a provincial strength: 99.6% of Santa Fe's territory produces without deforestation, a condition that no other province can accredit with this level of official backing."
For his part, former farm leader and Secretary of Agriculture Ignacio Mántaras said that "this platform aims to position Santa Fe production more powerfully in the markets. We respond to the global agenda by making attributes visible through public tools. The state itself consolidates the information and is the absolute guarantor of confidentiality and the strategic use of data."
