Esteban Figueroa's presentation at 'Climate action in the sugarcane sector' session at Bonsucro Global Week 2022.

1. Regenerative Agriculture
Learnings from sugar cane sector in Mexico

2. © Proforest 2
According with soil scientists, if current
rates of soil destruction occurs, we will
loss the arable topsoil within 50 years
Conceptualizing
Regenerative Agriculture
Aims to regenerate and revitalize the soil through agriculture practices
that improves farms’ productivity, improves livelihoods and reduces
the carbon footprint from agriculture supply chains
Regenerative agriculture reduces soil erosion, decarbonization,
desertification and chemical pollution.

3. © Proforest 3
Background
Agriculture and climate change
Produced by traditional
agriculture
Main emission: CO2, N2O y
CH4
11-14%
Contribution on global
GHG emissions
0.4-1.2
Billions Tons of CO2e
Sources
• Deforestation and biodiversity lost (27%)
• Tillage and soil biomass removal (23%)
• Use of synthetic fertilizers (18%)
• Use of fossil fuels (12%)
• Irrational use of water (19%)

4. © Proforest 4
Background
Regenerative Agriculture Principles
Conservation tillage
Zero tillage
Minimize tillage
Compost application
Cover/green crops
Maintain Coverage Carbon sequestration
and biodiversity
Reduce burning
Agroforestry
Silvo-pastoral systems
Reforestation and afforestation
Biological nutrition
Reduction on use of chemical
fertilizers
Use of biofertilizers

5. 5
Proforest approach
Regenerative Agriculture
•Engage with local
teams
•Engage with suppliers
•Define action plan
•Continuous monitor
•Evaluate KPI’s based on
M&E
•Evaluate additionality
•Prioritize treatments
•Define strategies to scale
up
•Set up indicators (KPI)
•Set up M&E framework
•Define sources of
information
•Carry on analysis
•Confirm goals
•Engage with suppliers
•Identify sources of emissions
•Set up objectives
•Define scope and prioritize
practices
Scoping Baseline
Actions
Monitor
and
report

6. 6
Regenerative Agriculture
Implementation in Mexico
Iniciativa Union is a collaborative program
from Ingenios Santos to improve HR
conditions and tackle climate change in
sugar supply chain.
Reg Ag. Program:
A three-years program to evaluate and
replicate the best Reg. Ag. practices in sugar
cane to:
- Improve yields of sugar cane farms
- Reduce the production costs
- Increase the carbon capture in soil
First year- Setting up the baseline
Demonstrative farms to evaluate the
results on productivity
Validation farms to evaluate the results
on cost reduction and CO2 capture
~400+ hectares under management, 14 treatments
3 ha under management, 4 different combinations:
Traditional management (100% fertilization)- W
50% fertilization
No fertilization
50% fertilizers+ Biofertilizers

7. 7
Reg. Ag. in Practice
Field results
1
2
3 4
1. Incorporation of crop
residues
2. Biological control
3. Implementation of green
covers
4. Use of biofertilizers:
• Above: with BOF
• Below: without BOF

8. 8
Results
Preliminary
Productivity results
Yields were increased in 15% through Reg.
Ag. Practices, in comparison with
traditional agriculture -potential 35%-
Carbon capture results
111,722 tons of CO2e in 427 ha through
Reg. Ag. practices, against the 62,769 tons
of CO2e from traditional agriculture
Production costs results
Cost of production was reduced in 53%
through Reg. Ag. Practices, in comparison
with traditional agriculture.
Treat Surface
(ha)
Carbon
capture
(CO2e/ha)
Cane
diameter
(cm)
Productivity
against
witness
Cost of
production
($/ha)
Cost
efficiency
against
witness
1 44 256 2.7 59 % $ 11,151 53 %
2 35 303 2.6 53 % $ 12,094 51 %
3 41 226 2.6 53 % $ 14,709 39 %
4 32 294 2.3 35 % $ 11,251 53 %
Witness 16 147 1.7 0 % $ 24,057 0 %
Results in plantations with over 200 days growth

9. 9
Lessons
learned
• Regular monitoring is needed to ensure the implementation on time
Scaling up
• Main benefits are associated to reduction in use of inputs
• Each project needs to be tailored to the supply chain, adapting the
principles of RA
• Reach 25 smallholders between harvest 22/23
and beyond
• Cover 200 ha under a reg. Ag. Approach
• Increase 15% of productivity
• Main results are achieved in medium and large terms

10. Thank you!
More information:
esteban@proforest.net
sergio@proforest.net
maximino.rivas@proforest.net