Balbo’s sugar and organic alcohol

Sustainable development – the Balbo family inscribed in the genes of the group it founded in Brazil in 1903, the Usina São Francisco. Its mission is clear, “explore the potential of sugarcane and other agro-industrial products to create value through sustainable agriculture”, a philosophy that is evident all through the stages of the production cycle of its 293,000 tons of sugar and 318,000 m3 of ethanol. “When we decided to develop a new, more sustainable production system for sugar cane (the Green Cane Project in 1987 – Ed.), our goal was to use the excellent environmental potential of this culture. After this, we realized that our system was so close to organic production that we chose to follow that route”, says Fernando Vanzela, Director, International Operations. Thus, the sugar – 84% of the crop – is cultivated by some 300 local producers and Agropecuária Tamburi (a subsidiary of the group), either in an organic manner, or biodynamic – a system of culture that focuses on the biological functioning of soil and plants, working according to lunar and planetary rhythms (…) “with which we do not plan to obtain ethanol, at least not in the short term”. It is subsequently, in centres that are self-sufficient in energy, thanks to the use of bagasse (sugarcane fibre) for burning, that Native Organics is produced, sugar and organic ethanol sold in 67 countries and to several sectors, one of them being cosmetic. “Although both are regularly used by this industry, we focus more on the second – basic raw material for perfumes”, says Fernando Vanzela. “In this segment, we offer a large source of supply, sustainable and reliable, of organic neutral alcohol, certified, with the added bonus of fair-trade and environmental certifications”.