On April 30, 2026, the launch event of the project “Transforming agricultural chains free of deforestation and conversion in Latin America – Trade4EU” took place in a hybrid format that connected participants in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras and Germany.
Trade4EU is a five-year regional initiative that will be implemented in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Honduras by a consortium formed by the German Agency for International Cooperation, Solidaridad and the World Wildlife Fund. Its objective is to scale existing models and tools to support deforestation and conversion-free supply chains to comply with European regulations, including the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
It also aims to replicate this in other areas alongside new stakeholders within strategic Latin American supply chains such as soy, livestock and coffee. This cooperation contributes to both the meeting of these EUDR requirements and the promotion of sustainable trade between Germany/Europe and Latin America. The project will run with funds from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection as part of the International Climate Initiative.
The Climate Affairs Representative from the German Embassy in Brazil, Timon Leopold, explained to the event’s audience that this funding represents a “commitment to really take joint responsibility in global supply chains”. Furthermore, Biosphere Programme Director from the German Agency for International Cooperation in Brazil, André Lammerding-Berdau, highlighted the consolidation of this partnership after two years of design, stating that “a solid foundation of trust, cooperation and alignment across the different national contexts” had been built.
Built on existing policies with institutional backing
Trade4EU was designed to work in close collaboration with government representatives from each country to transform agricultural supply chains. To achieve this, it is necessary to intervene directly in specific communities, as well as to apply national public policies that promote this transformation. Therefore, one of the main pillars of the project is building on existing policies, enhancing and scaling the legal frameworks, initiatives and technological platforms that governments have already developed.
During the event, government representatives had the opportunity to present these policies and reaffirm their commitment to working together. From Brazil, Rural Development Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Marcelo Narváez Fiadero highlighted the creation of the “Agrobrasil + sustainable” platform. This mechanism certifies the socio-environmental compliance of plant and animal production in Brazil, preserving the privacy of the data voluntarily submitted by farmers. In Bolivia, Vice Minister of Agricultural and Integral Development Karel Rivero also referred to the national traceability system that is currently being developed to grant an official certification, proving that Bolivian soy and livestock are deforestation-free.
From Colombia, Head of the International Affairs Office at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Yenly Angélica Méndez mentioned the establishment of special protection areas for food production, the National Agroecology Policy and the Agricultural Inputs Policy as part of the national strategy to strengthen traditional farming practices that already have a positive impact on the protection of forests and ecosystems. Finally, from Honduras, Undersecretary of Coffee Production José Francisco Ordóñez highlighted that the National Coffee Council, which brings together ministries, exporters and farmers, is supporting the collection of georeferencing data and the regularization of land tenure to prioritize EUDR compliance.
The call from the private sector
Meanwhile, the private sector has decided to consider the bottlenecks it faces in complying with the EUDR, warning especially about the high cost of the transition and the risk of excluding smallholder farmers.
Among the challenges mentioned, Osman Napoleón of the Honduran Coffee Institute warned about the vulnerable position of farming families regarding georeferencing requirements. This is due to the small size of their farms, their lack of affiliation with formal cooperatives and the spread of “false positives” for deforestation when satellites confuse agroforestry systems with primary forests. To address this, Trade4EU will implement awareness campaigns and support to close informality gaps in land tenure. Additionally, the project will seek to generate synergies and unify databases with other existing initiatives to optimize resources and avoid duplication of efforts when mapping plots.
Furthermore, Marcela Gaviria of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation highlighted three main challenges in Colombia: that buyers or competent authorities in Europe validate and adopt public traceability systems to avoid extra costs in the logistics process that could be passed on to the price paid to the smallholder farmer; that public access to information continues to be guaranteed; and —as in Honduras— that the informality gaps regarding labor and land tenure be closed. In this regard, the project will seek, through knowledge sharing and communication, to have operators and service providers in supply chains use public information layers (such as land-use maps and deforestation alerts) to comply with the European Union’s due diligence requirements.
Finally, Pedro García of the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries and Álvaro Guzmán of the Bolivian Roundtable on Sustainable Livestock emphasized appealing to incentives and benefits instead of punitive actions, and involving farmers in the origin verification process to overcome potential resistance. On the one hand, they mentioned access to technical assistance and comprehensive financing for livestock intensification, taking into account that the transition from conventional to sustainable production will inevitably involve mistakes. On the other hand, they highlighted that it is important to demonstrate and measure the environmental benefit provided by farmers, so that markets recognize this effort. For this reason, Trade4EU will develop structured business models and financial profiles to connect farmers with credit institutions, reducing investment risk.
In conclusion, the event demonstrated that successful compliance with regulations like the EUDR will depend on avoiding isolated efforts and promoting real collaboration among the state, international cooperation, companies and smallholder farmers.