Brazil is the world’s largest producer of sugarcane, accounting for one-third of global production for ethanol, fertilizer and animal feed as well as white sugar. Sugarcane production is rife with environmental harm and human rights abuses.
Agrion, based in the south-central Brazilian city of Uberlândia, is working to combat sugarcane farming’s negative impacts with a line of organic fertilizers. Its products replace chemical fertilizers that leach into water systems and coastal ecosystems, posing a threat to coral reefs and other marine organisms.
The company secured a $50 million commitment from the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, an impact fund managed by Pegasus Capital Advisors, to build new production facilities. Agrion is fourth deal from the reef fund, which has raised $250 million toward its goal of $750 million.
Circular agriculture
Waste from sugarcane production that isn’t properly managed poses additional environmental risks. Agrion sources sugarcane waste from producers and repurposes it for its fertilizer products. The company contributes to the resilience of marine ecosystems “by providing a destination for highly-polluting sugarcane waste,” then enabling that waste to be utilized in a different form by sugarcane farms and processors, explained Global Fund for Coral Reefs’ Dale Galvin.
Agrion makes 60,000 tons of fertilizer annually at its facility northwest of Uberlândia and plans to open 20 more facilities in the next decade. Agrion’s Ernani Judice says the company is “particularly excited to work in the Northeast region, where the only coral reef ecosystem in the South Atlantic exists.”
