Who we are

The GTFI – Indirect Suppliers Working Group for Brazilian Ranching – is the main forum for discussing the monitoring of indirect suppliers in the beef supply chain for Brazil

The GTFI brings together the various stakeholders of the Brazilian beef production chain to discuss solutions for traceability, monitoring and transparency with a focus on deforestation by indirect suppliers.

We believe that traceability is one of the most important steps for achieving responsible and more sustainable production. All GTFI members recognize the value and importance that better traceability and greater transparency will bring to the sector as a whole, and to achieve that goal the Group is focused on exploring and moving forward with viable solutions and tools.

GTFI Objectives

Identify, develop and support implementation of traceability solutions for indirect suppliers;

Communicate challenges, opportunities and progress towards traceability for indirect suppliers.

The role of the GTFI in society

The advance of solutions in monitoring and traceability for indirect suppliers will help fill existing gaps in systems for controlling purchases of cattle and beef, reducing risks and contributing towards the establishment of supply chains that are free of deforestation.

Achieving this objective at scale will require coordinated support from the entire value chain through the GTFI, and will involve ranchers, beef-processing plants, retail networks, geotechnology companies, non-governmental organizations and financial institutions.

Making viable and efficient solutions available for monitoring indirect suppliers is an indispensable step for reducing deforestation that is associated with cattle production.

For more than 30 years, Radobank has been active in sustainable development for agribusiness in Brazil. Aware of the challenges in the cattle chain in Brazil, we believe that only through joint and well-coordinated actions such as those of the GTFI, with involvement of representatives of all links in the productive chain, will we be able to find solutions for the advances needed.

Thais Fontes / Sustainability Manager

Banco Rabobank Internacional do Brasil

The Carrefour Brasil Group believes in sustainable development for Brazilian cattle ranching and thus we participate and collaborate with working groups like the GTFI, which enable dialogue and practical actions for involvement and improvement of all links in the production and consumption chain.

Lucio Vicente / Head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability

Carrefour Brasil

The GTFI is focused on complex and delicate issue that is critical to advancing efforts to fight deforestation within production chains, lending valuable support to the TACs in Pará. We are aware that there is no magic formula – an articulated solution that takes into account the different actors within cattle ranching is the only chance we have at success.
This is precisely what the GTFI has built, with dialogue and with mapping good practices, and for this reason, it has the full support of the Federal Prosecutors in Pará.

Ricardo Negrini

Federal Public Prosecution Service – Pará

The Frialto meatpacking company has been working since 2018 with the objective of developing a deforestation-free supply chain for beef production in order to meet market demands and its own socioenvironmental commitments, using tools that aid in making more effective decisions and help suppliers who have been blocked. As part of that task, our company began cooperating with the GTFI, because we believe this issue is of paramount importance and the discussions held within the Group help the company to better understand its supply chain and the role of indirect suppliers.

Jackson Graf / Administrative and Sustainability Director

Frialto

Because of its strategy for sustainability and its socioenvironmental policy for beef sourcing, GPA views the principles of transparency and collaboration as key elements for structural changes in the value chain. That is why we see the GTFI as a complete platform that enables actors in the chain to work together in building solutions to the challenges of monitoring indirect suppliers.
GPA, through its subsidiaries Pão de Açúcar, Extra, Assaí and Compre Bem, have participated in the GTFI since its creation, reinforcing our joint responsibility to promote affirmative actions regarding the fight against deforestation and the conservation of biomes throughout our supply chain.

Susy Yoshimura / Director for Compliance and Sustainability

GPA

ICEC is committed to the responsible sourcing of hides and leather through certification activities. As part of this commitment, we engage in multi-stakeholder groups to help advance pre-competitive solutions to critical sustainability challenges.

We see the Indirect Supplier Working Group (GTFI) as an important forum in Brazil to advance practical solutions that help improve traceability and deforestation monitoring in the cattle sector. Improving traceability and expanding deforestation monitoring to cover indirect supplying ranches in Brazil is critically important to ICEC to ensure we can continue to deliver on our responsible sourcing commitments to our customers around the world and also to help ensure we contribute positively to more sustainable outcomes in the leather sector that are good for people, animals, business, and the planet.

ICEC – Institute of Quality Certification for the Leather Sector

For Marfrig, the issue of indirect suppliers is crucial and is one of the pillars of the Marfrig Green + Sustainability Plan. We are participants in the GTFI, which promotes discussions and recommends guidelines that are important for developing practical and effective solutions that provide visibility to this link within the cattle chain.

Paulo Pianez / Director for Sustainability and Communications

Marfrig

The creation of the Working Group for Indirect Suppliers was a milestone in the sector. The challenges with traceability affect the entire supply chain and we believe that the joining of forces from all parts is necessary to move forward and improve production. For that reason, we are committed to supporting and contributing effectively to this agenda. We are proud to have remained 100% in compliance with the CPP for seven consecutive years and to have obtained the best Beef TAC results in the sector.
Our objective is to reach the same level of success in the monitoring of indirect suppliers. After all, at Minerva Foods, we are committed to sustainable cattle production and growth from the fields to our consumer’s tables. 

Taciano Custódio / Director for Sustainability

Minerva Foods

The beef processing industry, together with retailers and geotechnology companies, have been developing solutions for socioenvironmental monitoring of the beef for more than 10 years. Within that scenario, the GTFI plays a vital role in enabling all the companies involved to exchange information and share experiences, in order to combine our efforts in drawing up a joint strategy for facing the complex challenge of indirect suppliers. The GTFI discussions have brought important advances in understanding the best ways forward for monitoring indirect suppliers and for good practices in monitoring the beef chain as a whole and have contributed above all towards advances in implementing traceability mechanisms for Brazilian cattle ranching.

Jordan Timo Carvalho / Director

Niceplanet Geotecnologia

Members

* Adherence by GTFI members is voluntary

Funder

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Our history

June 2015

1o GTFI Workshop

Start of discussion on the subject of indirect suppliers and mapping of existing initiatives.

February 2016

2o GTFI Workshop

Formalization of the GTFI and definition of objectives.

November 2016

3o GTFI Workshop

Development and discussion of a proposal for monitoring indirect suppliers.

After an extensive revision of the options available for traceability in cattle production, the GTFI members reached the consensus that integrating CAR and GTA would be the most viable solution for improving the existing traceability systems in Brazil in the short and medium term. Since the GTA and CAR systems already exist, they can provide a solution with a better cost-benefit ratio that is capable of scaling up and being rapidly implemented with little or no additional cost and labor.

October 2017

4o GTFI Workshop

Alignment on the challenges for meatpackers in the state of Pará in implementing monitoring of indirect suppliers.

December 2017

5o GTFI Workshop

Presentation of Business Models and tools for monitoring indirect suppliers.

March 2018

6o GTFI Workshop

Discussion with geotechnology companies regarding the main technical challenges in monitoring indirect suppliers.

March 2019

7oGTFI Workshop

Agreement on Good Practices for implementing a system for Monitoring Indirect Suppliers in the Cattle Chain.

July 2021

8o GTFI Workshop

Beginning of GTFI Tool Map construction and discussion on the continuous improvement of the Good Practices for monitoring indirect suppliers.

August 2022

9o GTFI Workshop

Presentation of the GTFI Tools Map, discussion on new monitoring tools and plan for updating the GTFI Good Practices.

December 2022

Good Practices Webinar

Analysis on the impact of the implementation of the socio-environmental criteria added to the GTFI Good Practices and presentation of the 2023 Work Plan.