Representing 20% of GDP and half of exports, agribusiness is the most internationalized sector within the Brazilian economy. However, the sector currently faces a series of challenges within areas such as competitiveness, sustainability, food safety and food security. The sector is inserted within a global context of uncertainty regarding the post-pandemic recovery, the future of multilateralism, the geopolitical upheavals, and the increasing threat from climate change.
As part of the Centre for Public Policies at Insper, Insper Agro Global aims to analyze the main vectors of transformation and the dynamics of Brazil’s insertion within global agribusiness, developing strategic studies, policy designs with a solid theoretical and empirical basis, and engaging in the training of public and private sector managers. The contributions made by Insper Agro Global are centered around three axes: education, research, and knowledge diffusion.
The center has been developing partnerships, both within Brazil and abroad. Since 2019, it has maintained a technical agreement with Embrapa. In 2020 it received support from Itaú-BBA to carry out its cycle of debates, and in 2021/2022 it will count on the institutional support from the companies Itaú-BBA, Bayer, Cargill, Mosaic and Rumo.
Main focus areas: food security, trade policy, international agribusiness insertion, food safety, value-added and product differentiation, innovation, bioenergy, infrastructure, communication, sustainability and the impacts of climate change.
Access the center’s inaugural presentation (in Portuguese)
Access the report of activities undertaken between August 2019 and December 2020 (in Portuguese)
Executive courses (in portuguese):
Management and governance within agribusiness
The complexity and scale of Brazilian agribusiness requires improvements in the training of its leaders. New risks, capital demands, and needs for specific skills are emerging with the increasing digitalization of agricultural operations. This trend makes the need for specialization of agribusiness executives and managers even more pressing. We present a differentiated proposal for executive education that aims to prepare participants, both conceptually and with practical tools that will allow them to conduct business more efficiently and within sustainable risk levels.
Brazil within Global Agribusiness
Amid growing global demand for agribusiness products, motivated by growth in population and income per capita, Brazil stands out among the largest global exporters due to its production capacity and productivity. However, the world market has undergone great transformations and new requirements have arisen, for which agribusiness must be prepared. This demands professionals from the public sector who understand these new dynamics and act in an intelligent and coordinated way to enhance the country’s international insertion. The course seeks to present a broad perspective of the main challenges involving Brazilian agribusiness in this new global context. A course restricted to diplomatic staff from the Itamaraty (serving in Brasilia or abroad), APEX staff, and employees at the Ministry of Agriculture and institutions connected to this Ministry and to the Ministry of Economy.
Agribusiness Law
The agribusiness law course relates economic issues to the current legal regime. The sessions discuss the main problems faced by the sector and present a comprehensive view of the functioning of agro-industrial systems in the conceptualization of the legal businesses carried out within this context. Discussions revolve around this order of concepts and its characteristics in the integration of economic activities, ranging from the supply of production inputs, industrialization, storage, commercialization and logistics. Legal links with the financial market will also be highlighted, aiming at improved performance and lower transaction costs.
Agribusiness for journalists and the media
(SOON)
Graduate courses offered at Insper:
Agribusiness – Economy and Politics (Optional course – Public policy trail – 1st semester each year)
Amid a rising global demand for agribusiness products, motivated by advances in population and per capita income growth, Brazil stands out among the largest exporters in the world thanks to its production capacity and productivity. However, the global agribusiness market is highly dynamic and has presented changes, new requirements and challenges. With a logical structure and updated content, this course aimed at undergraduate students at Insper introduces the concepts of agribusiness and agro-industrial systems, focusing on economics, administration and public policy, presenting analytical methods to understand the evolution of this sector in Brazil and its global insertion. It also assesses new trends and global issues, including analytical efforts, case studies, debates and the design of public policies for the sector.
General Coordinator:
Professors at Insper:
Bruno Varella Miranda
Ph.D in applied economics – University of Missouri-Columbia
Sergio Lazzarini
Ph.D. in Business Management – Washington University, St. Louis
Paulo Furquim de Azevedo
Doctor in Economy – FEA/USP
Danny Pimentel Claro
Ph.D in Business Management – Wageningem University
Priscila Borin Claro
Doctor in Business Management – UFLV
Tiago Fischer
Doctor in Business Management – FEA/USP
Invited Professors
Cinthia Cabral da Costa | EMBRAPA
Doctor in Applied Economics – ESALQ/USP
Antônio Carlos Ortiz | Coordinator of the executive course in Management and Governance in Agribusiness
Master in Agricultural Economics – Purdue University
Renato Buranello | Coordinator of the executive course in Agribusiness Law
Doctor in Trade Law – PUC/SP
Researchers
Leandro Gilio
Doctor in Applied Economics – ESALQ/USP
Marco Guimarães
Bachelor in Business Administration – ESALQ/USP
Camila Dias de Sá
Doctor in Business Administration – FEA/USP
Niels Soendergaard
Doctor in international Relations – Universidade de Brasília/UnB
Insper Cebri Agro Global Debates
In 2021, Insper Agro Global and the Brazilian Center for International Relations (Cebri) will continue the debate cycle on global agribusiness which in 2020 drew large audiences, reaching an average of more than 1,500 views between the online and recorded debates. In 2021, the cycle will comprise ten events for qualified audiences, as a webinar and/or face-to-face format, as well as the participation of national and international specialists to discuss relevant themes that permeate the development of agribusiness in Brazil and in the world. In this cycle, when there are international specialists, we will count on the support of an English/Portuguese simultaneous translation system.
Throughout this second cycle, we will address issues such as agribusiness within the international climate agenda, the Forest Code, and the fight against deforestation, payments for environmental services, taxation of agribusiness, potential competitors of Brazilian agribusiness, social issues within the field, among others.
All events are moderated by Marcos S. Jank, Insper Agro Global Coordinator and Julia Dias Leite, President-Director of the Brazilian Center for International Relations (Cebri).
Upcoming events
More information soon
Events held
May, 20
The Brazilian Agribusiness from a Chinese perspective
Follow the full webinar (in Portuguese)
April, 15
Brazilian agriculture and the Forest Code
Follow the full webinar (in Portuguese)
March, 25
The Farmer’s Mind in the Digital Era – McKinsey Pulse 2021
Follow the full webinar (in Portuguese)
Information about upcoming events soon.
The Global Agri Trade Data Portal (Gat) is the result of a partnership between Insper Agro Global and Embrapa Agricultural Instrumentation is a set of dashboards that, in an interactive and illustrative way, presents a range of quantitative indicators and data on international agricultural trade.
Update continuously
Projects, academic research reports, working papers and policy papers, among other publications derived from studies developed by the researchers. Get to know these works here.
Papers and working papers
Newsletters
To contribute to enhance the understanding of the effects and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in global agribusiness, between June and October 2020 Insper Agro Global released the Covid-19 Special Bulletin with relevant information and analyses of the sector.
Bulletin No. 1 | June 2020 (in portuguese)
Bulletin No. 2 | July 2020 (in portuguese)
Bulletin No. 3 | August 2020 (in portuguese)
Bulletin No. 4 | October 2020 (in portuguese)
As of November 2020, monthly bulletins have been discontinued and replaced by publications in a fixed column in the online edition of Veja magazine.
Global Agro Blog (in portuguese) | Revista Veja online
Newspaper and magazine articles
Published in 2021
Pandemia acelera a digitalização da agricultura brasileira (in portuguese) – (Brazil Journal, March/2021)
Insper: Aquisição de imóveis rurais por estrangeiros. Prós, contras, riscos…(in portuguese) – (Notícias Agrícolas, March/2021)
A obrigação de integrar o Mato Grosso ao mundo (in portuguese) (Poder 360, February/2021)
Published in 2020
A revolução silenciosa do transporte de cargas agrícolas (in portuguese) (Estadão, September/2020)
Agronegócio e meio-ambiente – separando o joio do trigo (in portuguese) (Estadão, July/2020)
O coronavírus e a segurança dos alimentos (in portuguese) (Notícias Agrícolas, June/2020)
Parceria Brasil-China para segurança alimentar (in portuguese) (Estadão, May/2020)
Um alerta global para zoonoses e segurança do alimento (in portuguese) (Estadão, April/2020)
O casamento inevitável entre Brasil e China no agronegócio (in portuguese) (Valor Econômico, April/2020)
O mundo global e a covid-19 (in portuguese) (Estadão, March/2020)
O diálogo necessário entre agricultura e meio ambiente (in portuguese) (Estadão, February/2020)
Acordo EUA-China – impacto e inconsistências legais (in portuguese) (Estadão, January/2020)
Other Publications
Lições para o agronegócio: comércio e segurança do alimento (in Portuguese)
Chapter 7 of the book Legado de uma Pandemia (“Legacy of a Pandemic”, in a free translation), published by Insper and Fundação Brava in 2021
China-Brazil Partnership on Agriculture and Food Security
Book launched in 2020 by the School of Agriculture “Luiz de Queiroz” (Esalq-USP) and by China Agricultural University (CAU), in partnership with the research center Insper Agro Global.
The featured companies support Insper Agro Global. However, it is important to highlight, that the sponsors of the school do not exercise any influence over the research, courses, webinars, or any other activities or content produced by Insper Agro Global.
