Seara, owned by JBS, ended 2024 with a significant milestone: 70% of its integrated chicken producers in Brazil use solar energy on their farms. This figure is 12 times higher than five years ago, when only 5.6% of producers used this source of energy. The increase is due to the company’s policy of encouraging producers to use solar energy, which takes into account various issues, including items related to sustainability.
In a single year, the production of solar energy at Seara’s integrated poultry farms across Brazil totaled 205,182,885.60 kWh – enough to supply a city with approximately 90,000 inhabitants for 12 months.
The farms supplied by solar energy operate across eight states and the Federal District. In São Paulo, almost 78% of the units have adopted photovoltaic panels; in the states of Santa Catarina and Minas Gerais, the percentage is just over 73%.
With the implementation of greater automation in poultry houses and controlled indoor environments, electricity has come to play a significant role in producers’ costs. On the other hand, photovoltaic panels, with their increasing dominance in the production of electricity from solar panels, are reaffirming themselves as a competitive opportunity in this scenario.
In addition to guiding and supporting the implementation of panels, Seara has encouraged the installation of photovoltaic panels on farms through a checklist that seeks to recognize good production practices through sustainable actions.
Checklist
Seara has a checklist that guides its bonus policy for integrated poultry and pork partners. In addition to structural and procedural suitability criteria, sustainability items are also included. Among the ESG criteria, in addition to the installation of renewable energy sources on the farms, such as photovoltaic panels, there is also the implementation of a program for the identification, separation and correct disposal of solid waste and the adaptation of the farms to animal welfare standards. Farms that engage on all three fronts are entitled to a bonus.
For Sandro Fontanella, an integrated producer in Forquilhinha, state of Santa Catarina, investing in renewable energy systems goes beyond the environmental benefits. “It’s like investing in a new activity, which becomes an additional source of income for us producers,” he says. “Before, we spent a considerable amount on buying energy from the utilities. Today, the amount saved or generated by the photovoltaic panel system is earmarked for paying off its financing, with a term of six years,” he points out.
Currently, Fontanella’s farm meets between 80% and 83% of its energy demand with clean, renewable energy, which corresponds to around 220,000 kWh to 240,000 kWh per year. “We are developing an expansion project to reach 100% of our demand, something that is feasible thanks to Seara’s incentive policies, which make the business even more accessible,” he says.
“The initiative has the potential to be profitable in the medium term, transforming what was once a simple cost into a new source of margin for the producer. Therefore, as well as representing a more sustainable solution, solar energy is also proving to be an economically advantageous alternative for integrated businesses,” says Vamiré Luiz Sens Júnior, executive manager for Agricultural Sustainability at Seara.
