[BOSSA NOVA MUSIC PLAYING] {DAVID YETMAN} The corporate farms in central Brazil are the largest in the world and they have crowded out most small producers.

Now, a government agency, EMBRAPA, has a specific task of assisting small traditional farmers and protecting their ancient varieties of crops and the way of life that goes with them.

[LEAVES RUSTLING] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {ANNOUNCER} Funding for In the Americas with David Yetman was provided by Robert and Carol Dorsey The Guilford Fund.

Arch and Laura Brown.

And Hugh and Joyce Bell.

[MUSIC FADES] [THEME MUSIC PLAYS] [INDISTINCT TALKING] [THEME SONG FADES] [SOFT MUSIC BEGINS] {DAVID} I'm standing at the base of a great plateau in central Brazil, home to a great biological diversity, as great as anywhere outside the Amazon region, and perhaps equal to it.

It's under threat from the vast expansion in Brazil of soybean and corn farming that have cleared millions of acres of land formerly forested.

And here we are in a community where there is a fight against that expansion, attempting to preserve the biological diversity and the human diversity in this area.

[LAUGHTER] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {FERNANDO} This is a co-operative made up entirely of organic family farmers [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] We border an area where soybean and corn monoculture is practiced.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] Our idea is to preserve as much land as possible and produce in an ecological way, with minimal harm to the environment.

{DAVID} The size of this community is pretty good.

They've got about— Which is about 1500 acres.

And one of the delights of living in this community that people have always known for generations is the abundance of beautiful water waterfalls.

This little Edenic oasis here is right on the edge of industrial agricultural fields that measure hundreds of square miles in size, an unending pasture and corn and soybeans with no relief, nothing broken.

Just one huge field as far as the eye can stretch.

They're telling me that the amount of water in here decreased as more agriculture appeared around here.

It is very faithful now, and it runs all year round.

But that's an ominous sign.

And they understand that if the agricultural comes, this will probably dry up with the protection that the people got for this area.

They removed the cattle.

There's a direct correlation between the work that they have done here to remove cattle and produce crops that are sustainable, and the health of this stream.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {FERNANDO} We prefer to convince people by setting an example, producing a model that can be replicated.

This is why we approached Embrapa and Emater and other technical guidance agencies, because our main idea is to make this a hub for sustainable agriculture.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {MARCAL JORGE} Embrapa is a government research agency.

It was founded in 1973 to develop sustainable tropical agriculture and livestock farming practices.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] Embrapa conducts scientific research that helps promote food security in Brazil.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] We also deal with social economic and social environmental issues.

We are close to the agriculture sector, where we have small, medium and large farmers working in agriculture.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] One of the research products where we have developed a very productive partnership is the Comunidade da Fraternidade [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {JOAO HENRIQUE VERA} We have an agroforestry system of native corn açaí, and two variety of native beans.

This is an agro forestry system that includes a variety of wheat that we call “Veadeiro” We are planting it for the first time in this area.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] So here's the açaí root, corn and beans that will fix nitrogen into the soil.

It will also provide shade for the açaí so that it can grow together with the wheat.

[SOFT MUSIC] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {FERNANDO} The Comunidade da Fraternidade was founded in the 1960s as a community to support orphan children and create a spiritual and charitable environment to extend our positive energy to the new city of Brasília.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] some of the construction workers that came here to help build the city had children with local women.

When these workers returned to their homelands, some left their children as homeless orphans in Brasília [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {TEREZINHA DIAS} This is the area where the old orphanage used to be.

{DAVID} The building in the background with the The decorated mural Is the original orphanage, its where the orphans were brought from Brasilia.

Here.

And, given a real chance at a meaningful life.

It is now been converted to a school for the local children.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {ADRIANA} This location is very important for our students.

They are children of small producers who continue to survive on their isolated farms nearby.

And the school is the student's only source of social interaction.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [MUSIC FADES] {DAVID} It's unusual to come to a community where they will provide a lunch for you, made almost entirely with food that they grow here in this town.

we have fresh tomatoes and lettuce that are - that are grown here in gardens We have a, squash stew, a bean soup from locally grown beans.

[BLENDER NOISE] And this is cheese production.

So they make their own soap here from, believe it or not, soybean oil.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] A community that can sustain itself has a leg up on every other community because it's tropical here There are a huge number of fruits from which they make, some of the finest juices around.

They have taken great pains to plant various trees that produce either fruits or good vegetables.

You cannot help but wonder at the size of the avocado they have here, and there's one growing right over my head.

One of the unusual things about this area is that they have a sugar cane that is especially large, especially thick, and produces gobs of sugar cane juice.

[MACHINE WHIRRING] And we have a graviola tree over here.

These are very strange, and that they grow right on the trunk.

You put it in a squeezer and add a little bit of sugar and water.

And it has a delicious juice, very popular throughout Brazil [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {FERNANDO} We call this plant a daisy It serves as an organic fertilizer in our agroecological system.

You prune it and plant it as a ground cover and it cools the soil.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {DAVID} And here we have a hibiscus flower called Jamaica.

It not only is beautiful and fits on your table, but when dried, it can be brewed into a tea or into a cold beverage, which is very popular and very good for you.

This is the educational table here.

They have a wonderful exhibition of varieties of corn.

It's unusual to find a town that is involved in saving old seeds.

One of the things they have found here is an ancient variety of wheat that was brought here back in the 18th century, from the Middle East.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] This is Veadeiro wheat.

It's the variety that was lost many years ago.

The farmers missed having its benefits and sought out Embrapa for help using their vast genetic seed banks to revive this traditional variety.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {MARCAL JORGE} In the development of these partnerships, we have small farmers as the main participants in conducting research.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] We also have the exchange of seeds and seedlings as a way of maintaining the germplasm of both these farmers and those of Embrapa [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {TEREZINHA} We are here in the {TRANSLATION} {TEREZINHA} We are here in the municipality of Alto Paraiso in the region that borders an area of soybean monoculture.

This entire region we call Chapada dos Veadeiros There are eight agriculture municipalities here in total.

And many years ago, they began to cultivate traditional crops using different seeds that some groups of cattle drivers and families from other regions brought.

In this region, the principal crops include traditional wheat and coffee.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [BIRDS SINGING] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {VIRGILIO KRAUSE} This plant with the velvety leaves helps with the food we harvest You can place it on top of fried eggs and it tastes like fish.

It has a very pleasant fishy taste.

Some people say it tastes better than fish.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {DAVID} This is a cooperative extension from a governmental office in action.

These agronomists have come to this very rural place to give demonstrations of crops, various different, herbs, in this case that farmers may use.

And one of the things that they will ask is if they allow them to have the seeds for these, will the local farmers give them seeds from here in return?

And those seeds then will be stored in a seed bank.

It's a great opportunity for the farmers to get new information on new possible crops.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {VIRGILIO} they have brought things that we don't have here.

Things that can be very useful to us.

That there we call "cará pé de anta” Right?

- Yes.

There is a white and a purple one.

It looks like a big glove.

{DAVID} They not only bring a possible crop from Brazil, they're bringing them from all of tropical America.

And that's the idea, is to introduce new crops.

And in turn, the government agency gets to find what is local here and be able to save that seed because of its genetic diversity.

So important in a world where food becomes more important every day.

{VIRGILIO} Here there's everything bananas, corn, beans, yams and sweet potatoes, a large variety.

Whatever we find, we plant.

We try to multiply the crops.

Everything is worth trying.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {DAVID} You would not find in the big agribusiness anything like this, because there are more different varieties of consumable food here in the first three feet than there are in all of the commercial crops grown in Brazil by industrial agriculture.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {TEREZINHA} In working with the cooperative, we have been providing training in agroecological production using organic fertilizers and unconventional plants in this region of the Chapada There are many guardians of these traditional seeds that are disappearing in many places around the world.

And so we have been working on this joint effort to preserve agro biodiversity and promote this more ecological and sustainable agriculture with the conservation of the environment.

[BIRDS CHIRPING] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {VIRGILIO} The climate here is one of the best in the world for agriculture The soil is one of the world's best, but not because of the decomposition of rocks.

Since there aren't any rocks here, it's Cerrado That's how we refer to this region.

The soil can be a combination of red, yellow and black.

So you see that all the vegetation over here, that soil is the same as we have here.

It's marvelous.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {NUNO RODRIGUES} The fieldwork we conduct incluedes carrying out our recommendations, following the crops through their development and evaluating the harvest.

{TRANSLATION} {NAIARA} Farmers here need a market to sell their produce For example, a nearby farmer grew 1,500 pounds of squash and couldn't sell it because of the lack of a market.

We have some land over here on which we have been farming organic crops for over six years.

There we diversify.

We plant a little bit of everything.

We are making the effort to value and promote organic farming, and getting away from using pesticides.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC] {DAVID} From the Chapada region a highway leads us to the central part of the state of Tocantins the newest state in the country.

The capital is Palmas.

The city is a planned city, completely new, begun in 1989.

It's the location of expeditions into the countryside to visit indigenous people and the other natural wonders of the city of Tocantins It now has a population of about 300,000.

20 years ago we had a population of about 90,000 and it is growing very, very quickly.

[ACOUSTIC GUITAR MUSIC] Nestled among the newly constructed high rise buildings is a central market with surprisingly local products.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {CUSTOMER} Look at this potato It's a huge sweet potato.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {LURDES} This is the Taioba leaf This leaf is edible.

We take this here, and we can eat as much as we want.

The stock and the leaf [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] This other plant is also edible.

It is full of protein, known as the meat of the poor these days.

It has three times more protein than meat.

It helps brain function, relieves body pain, and is very good for your health.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] The best thing about São Caetano is that it's also very good for the liver.

It is widely used here in Brazil for flu and colds.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {DAVID} This is the Caldo de Cana It's the juice of sugarcane.

[BACKGROUND CHATTER] It is very satisfying.

It's actually not too sweet.

The thing was the lime juice cuts the sweetness.

{TRANSLATION} {NAIARA} Jambu is used as seasoning.

It's used a lot here in the regional cuisine, and it makes your mouth a little numb.

[BACKGROUND CHATTER] {DAVID} Its an odd sensation, its not unpleasant but I fear that I will lose my speech if I chew it much more {TRANSLATION} {NAIARA} It makes your tongue tremble.

[CALM MUSIC] {DAVID} Adjacent to the market is a municipal park with ample water and surprisingly local creatures.

20 years ago, this park was sort of on the outskirts of Palmas Now it's right in the middle of it So the urban area surrounds it.

But fortunately, the planners of this city left this as a lake, an open place where everyone could come and see the wildlife in addition to to see the beauty of the place.

The iguanas, wildlife Monkeys are still here.

Capybaras are the world's largest rodent.

It's hard to believe that these are really just huge rats, but they are found almost everywhere in tropical Americas.

They live at the edge of water.

Their feet are specially adapted for walking around in mud, climbing steep banks and even swimming.

But they don't venture far from the shore.

One of the reasons they like to live near a place where they can jump is that they are the prime food for jaguars.

And you can see that the jaguar could simply pick one of these up and walk off with it.

Have enough food for a few days.

But they are very - they look They look sleepy, but they are very alert.

And the mothers are watching the babies.

Even though this is a - pretty commonly visited by people.

They are watching to make sure that nothing dangerous approaches.

[DREAMY MUSIC] [MUSIC FADES] {DAVID} The Tocantins is a long river 1600 miles long, and it drains an area larger than Texas.

It has its own drainage, its own delta into the Atlantic Ocean south of the Amazon.

It is a major source of water and of hydroelectricity for the nation of Brazil.

The name Tocantins is derived from an indigenous language, and it means the beak of the toucan.

Seems appropriate in this country where the toucan is such an emblematic bird.

Not far from Palmas and the Tocantins river are the traditional lands of the Krahô people.

[GENTLE MUSIC] [SUSTAINED VOCALIZATION] [SUSTAINED VOCALIZATION] {DAVID} Embrapa is working with them to bolster their traditional crops and the way of life.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [LEAVES RUSTLING] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {TEREZINHA} Here in the Krahô indigenous land We have about 40 villages with almost 4000 people living in the territory.

It's an extremely well preserved territory.

It is characteristic of the Cerrado biome.

The inhabitants maintain their traditional culture, dances, songs, and ways of life.

The traditional agriculture system they use maintains the ecosystem.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {HELENO AHCAPRÊC} This plant we only plant in December.

This is sugar cane.

I plant manioc, corn, beans, squash.

I take advantage of all this forest land around us to plant my garden, and to take advantage of both the sun and the shade.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] It is all natural.

All the plants are planted and grown together.

Bananas, sugar cane.

It's all here.

Here we are very concerned with the advance of monoculture and large conventional agriculture.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] There are already cases of aerial spraying in the region.

And many people are concerned about the proximity of this land with the expansion of monoculture and the effects that it will have on their crops.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [GRAINS RUSTLING] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {TEREZINHA} Cultural conservation and biodiversity preservation.

They go hand in hand and we are in a global moment of climate change which has us very concerned.

So this is the Kraho territory.

These 302,000 hectares are a water producing territory.

Most of the springs are in the middle of their lands.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] The Krahos seek support for preservation as guardians of their water, of which there are 22 streams.

Their tribal lands preserve traditional seeds of all this biodiversity.

We, as researchers from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa have been working on this territory for about 20 years, conducting various types of studies, research and also food security actions, such as enriching backyard gardens.

We have already done work with 20,000 seedlings.

We are seeking to expand this work in future projects here to support this territory.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [PEOPLE CHANTING AND LAUGHING] {DAVID} One of the things the Krahos know when they got this land was that it had an abundance of water.

If we look at adjacent areas where we find industrial agriculture, the untold millions of acres of corn and soy and eucalyptus.

What we find is that the arroyos are drying up.

[WATER SPLASHING] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [TRANSLATION] [ALVARO CESAR] Here, within the territory, Each Kraho has perfect climate conditions, lots of waterways and protected forests.

Because this area is very large.

I'm sure there are species that have not yet been catalogued by science.

I believe there must be around 400 or so species.

[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING] [CALM MUSIC PLAYING] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [BIRD SOUNDS] [BIRD VOCALIZATION] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [BIRD VOCALIZATION] [CALM MUSIC] [FOOTSTEPS] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] {TRANSLATION} {TEREZINHA} In Brazil, the first traditional seed fairs took place when the Kraho people Realized that they were losing those traditional seeds.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] In their mythology, a star called Caxekwyj brought all the native seeds to Earth.

Over time, they lost several types of corn and other products that this star brought.

They reached out to Embrapa, Where we have an enormous genetic seed bank which is a collection of Brazilian seeds, and they managed to revive their corn and other native plants.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [INSPIRING MUSIC] {DAVID} This community and many others in this area go back many, many years.

Theyre old communities, old traditional communities of people who have and derived their livelihood from the soil.

They don't look at this oncoming threat as a fight for them, although they are certainly struggling against it.

What they want to show is that there is a reasonable and powerful alternative to the industrial expansion of agriculture.

[INSPIRING MUSIC] [GRAINS RUSTLING] [MUSIC FADES] {DAVID} Join us next time In the Americas, with me, David Yetman [WAVES CRASHING] [BOSSA NOVA MUSIC PLAYING] Several hours by land south of the great city of Oaxaca, the state meets the Pacific Ocean There, a dimension of Oaxacas extraordinary diversity appears in the ocean water.

[WATER GURGLING] [UPLIFTING MUSIC] [WATER SPLASHING] [UPLIFTING MUSIC] And the people who live nearby.

[BIRDS SINGING] [SPEAKING SPANISH] {DAVID} I can see a snake here which may be a venomous snake.

Everyone is convinced that it is one of the most venomous snakes around.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE] [BOSSA NOVA MUSIC] [INDISTINCT TALKING] {DAVID} The way it moves, it does not appear to me to be of the Viper family, which they thought it was.

But this is the place to find snakes, if you want them {ANNOUNCER} Funding for in the Americas with David Yetman was provided by Robert and Carol Dorsey.

The Guilford Fund.

Arch and Laura Brown.

And Hugh and Joyce Bell.

[MUSIC FADES]