Authored by: Morgan Gillespy, Executive Director, Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU) and Virginia Antonioli, Co -Coordinator, FOLU Brazil
Brazil is no stranger to the complexity of food systems. As a country with unparalleled biodiversity, a powerhouse of agricultural production, and deep social and regional inequalities, any real progress toward food systems transformation must navigate a landscape as dynamic as it is challenging.
And yet, Brazil is showing what is possible.
Over the past year, FOLU Brazil has been proud to work in close partnership with the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming (MDA) to support the design and rollout of a major new public programme aimed at scaling regenerative practices among family farmers. The National Productive Forests Program (PNFP) is the most ambitious effort in years to align environmental restoration, rural livelihoods, and food security—placing smallholders at the centre of the solution.
This work is not just about technical assistance. It is about co-creating a process that is rigorous, rooted in evidence, politically viable and most importantly, centered on delivering real benefits to people.
And it offers powerful lessons for how the food systems community can support real policy change.
Finding the right levers for change
In early 2024, we began by asking a simple but important question: how can public policy best support family farmers to adopt regenerative, climate-smart practices?
To answer it, FOLU Brazil developed a framework to assess 25 policies overseen by the MDA, scoring them against 10 priority intervention areas – such as increasing access to diverse and sustainable foods, improving rural workers’ livelihoods, and reducing GHG emissions – developed by the Alliance of Champions for Food Systems Transformation (ACF). We did not just look at policies on paper—we assessed maturity, delivery, and real-world impact.
This was not done in isolation. The MDA played a central role in reviewing the shortlist, and by May 2024, Vice-Minister Fernanda Machiavelli had selected the PNFP as the programme with the highest potential for impact across the ten areas set out by ACF.
Designed to support 30,000 families in restoring 30,000 hectares of degraded land through agroforestry by 2030, the PNFP aims to generate environmental, economic, and social outcomes in tandem. Its design reflects a recognition that productivity and restoration are not opposing goals—they are mutually reinforcing.
But identifying the right policy was just the beginning.
Aligning with Brazil’s national ambition
One of the key strengths of the PNFP is its strategic alignment with Planaveg 2.0, Brazil’s revised National Plan for the Recovery of Native Vegetation. For the first time, this framework includes explicit targets for productive restoration via agroforestry systems—a shift catalyzed by joint work between FOLU Brazil, the Ministry of the Environment, and the MDA.
This alignment gave the PNFP the political legitimacy it needed to move forward. But it also gave Brazil a rare opportunity and one that other countries should follow suit: to create a coherent policy environment where restoration efforts across ministries work in lockstep, not in silos.
By March 2025, this work had delivered results: a formally launched decree, dedicated funding, a pilot plan for implementation in Pará, and a clear mandate from the MDA to expand the mapping methodology to other states.
From Paper to Pilot: Bringing policy to life
To ensure the PNFP was not just well-designed but implementable, FOLU Brazil focused on two core areas:
- Developing a robust territorial mapping methodology to identify high-potential areas for implementation, adapted from IUCN’s Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM);
- Engaging local stakeholders to build support, ensure relevance, and generate momentum.
The methodology was adapted to the realities of productive restoration on smallholder farms and tested in Pará—a state chosen by the MDA for its high restoration potential. Through a territorial analysis of 21 settlement areas, FOLU Brazil assessed agroforestry potential, market access, and availability of inputs. The top three sites were selected, covering over 4,000 hectares of land and offering a powerful demonstration of what success could look like.
Throughout the process, we worked hand-in-hand with civil society, farmer organizations, and local actors. We facilitated national workshops in Brasília, technical dialogues in Pará, and co-designed the programme’s criteria, pillars, and enabling conditions. We were not there to impose solutions—we were there to help build them together.
Turning influence into impact
All of this came together in a comprehensive report—validated by the MDA—that became the technical foundation for the PNFP’s rollout strategy and a core tool for fundraising.
Its impact was immediate. By March 2025:
- The Restaura Amazônia initiative was launched by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA) and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), in partnership with the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming (MDA). The initiative has approximately BRL 450 million in resources from the Amazon Fund and will support projects aimed at restoring native vegetation in the Legal Amazon across seven states (Amazonas, Acre, Rondônia, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Pará, and Maranhão). In a new approach, the next three calls for proposals will focus on projects in land reform settlements.
- A public funding program supported by the Caixa Socio-Environmental Fund is being set up, with BRL 50 million available. The goal is to choose projects that support regenerative agriculture. This includes restoring degraded land for farming and helping family farmers meet environmental regulations. The selected projects will take place on small family farms and in traditional community areas in the states of Acre, Pará, Rondônia, Maranhão, and Mato Grosso.
- The pilot in the state of Pará moved into its technical-assistance phase, bringing training and resources to farmers on the ground in the State of Pará.
FOLU Brazil was also appointed as an advisor on the agenda of the Program’s Steering Committee, which is made up of seven institutions (the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Brazilian Forestry Service, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation and the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform), positioning us to continue supporting delivery and shaping future programme phases.
Why this matters
This is not just a successful project. It is a model of how policy change happens when technical rigour meets political opportunity.
By working with, not around, government institutions, leveraging the existing work and connections of our partner network – notably Coalizão Brasil Clima Florestas e Agricultura, UNICAFES (Union of Family Farming and Solidarity Economy Cooperatives) – and by staying focused on practical outcomes for farmers, FOLU Brazil helped build something lasting.
We did not chase the perfect policy—we backed the one that had real momentum, demand, and potential for impact. We focused on sequencing: Understand first, plan and engage next, and then establish the enabling conditions to begin implementation.
Most importantly, we stayed responsive. We adapted our plans as political priorities shifted. We stayed engaged when processes moved slowly. And we kept showing up.
This model proved so effective that it earned significant praise from government officials. According to Moisés Savian, Secretary of Land Governance and Territorial and Socio-environmental Development of the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture:
“Family farming is of the utmost importance in scaling up this process and contributing to an increase in the area recovered, generating employment and income and promoting food security and socio-biodiversity, together with maintaining and valuing traditional knowledge. The PNFP is linked to the recent Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, established within the framework of the G20, which aims to support and accelerate efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty while reducing inequalities. The partnership with FOLU has enabled us to expand the capacity and qualification of our decisions, allowing for greater efficiency both in the inaugural project and in identifying solutions for the program’s next projects and steps.”
Lessons we are carrying forward
Three things stood out from this work:
- Start with shared priorities: The PNFP was not our idea. It was the government’s. Our role was to help sharpen and scale it.
- Balance rigour with flexibility: Our policy mapping framework gave structure, but we remained responsive to political dynamics.
- Embed yourself in delivery: Weekly check-ins with the MDA, clear expectations, and joint decision-making created trust and co-ownership.
This approach helped ensure that the work did not just land—it stuck.
The food systems community is full of ideas, frameworks, and high-level ambition. But real transformation happens when those ideas meet institutions—when we find the right levers, build strong coalitions, and commit to the long game.
FOLU Brazil is proud to be part of that long game. And we are open to sharing what we have learned—whether it is our policy assessment framework, territorial mapping approach, or lessons from working across ministries.
We believe this work is just the beginning. As Brazil looks ahead to COP30—and to scaling the PNFP across more regions—we are more committed than ever to supporting delivery that is rooted in equity, resilience, and regeneration.
