The first shipment of coffee from Minas Gerais, Brazil, was made on 27 July. complies with the requirements of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The shipment left the port of Santos and is scheduled to arrive in Dublin (Ireland) on 21 August.

Composed of 320 bags from ten farmers of municipalities in southern Minas Gerais, this shipment was made possible thanks to the joint work between the Government of Minas Gerais, through the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (SEAPA), the Cooperative of Coffee Growers of Tres Pontas and the SeloVerde MG platform, a tool developed by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), the Territorial Intelligence Centre (CIT), the State Institute of Forests (IEF) and SEAPA, with the support of AL-INVEST Verde.

"Minas Gerais is taking the lead in demonstrating that our production is capable of meeting the new EU requirements and our environmental legislation, preserving our markets and promoting sustainability," said the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Livestock and Supply of Minas Gerais (SEAPA), Thales Fernandes, the driving force behind this process together with the Deputy Secretary, João Ricardo Albanez.

The SeloVerde MG platform makes it possible to demonstrate that the product, in this case coffee, is not associated with deforestation and therefore complies with the EUDR. Furthermore, it ensures that it complies with national legislation, as it issues a public certificate linked to the producer's Rural Environmental Registration (RER) number.

"The results of the diagnosis are presented for each rural property and can be compared with high-resolution images available for free on the platform. This provides transparency and traceability of production throughout the territory of Minas Gerais, as well as making it possible to identify and reward producers who conserve areas of native vegetation beyond the requirements of the Forest Code", explained Felipe Nunes, researcher at the Territorial Intelligence Centre/UFMG.

The Director General of the IEF, Breno Lasmar, said the innovative technologies employed at SeloVerde MG increased transparency and effectiveness, "streamlining forest management and environmental restoration processes". "These efforts have promoted a safer and more sustainable environment, protecting the biodiversity and natural resources of Minas Gerais, while creating conditions for economic activities aligned with the principles of sustainability," he added.

The AL-INVEST Verde's support for the SeloVerde MG platform was launched in 2023 to analyse rural coffee estates and determine that production is not associated with deforestation and forest degradation, as required by the EUDR for export to the European Union. "Since the adoption of the EU's Deforestation Free Regulation, we have been supporting Latin American countries in the implementation of public traceability tools to collect the production information required for trade in the products covered by the regulation," said Andrea Monaco, senior programme manager of AL-INVEST Verde.

Last March, representatives of the European Commission and AL-INVEST Verde visited Minas Gerais to learn about the operation of the SeloVerde MG platform on coffee farms in the south of the state and to hold meetings with the authorities involved. During the visit, it was agreed to send coffee tested with SeloVerde MG to Europe.