Farmers in Brazil are restoring biodiversity to grow resilient crops

Brazil is one of Earth’s ground zeroes for climate change. It’s home to the Amazon, the world’s largest and most diverse tropical rainforest, which scientists have called the “lungs of the planet” because it absorbs and stores global carbon emissions. But alarming amounts of the Amazon have been cleared and deforested over the last decades to make room for agriculture, exacerbating climate change. In a cyclical pattern, the agricultural landscape in Brazil, the world’s largest producer of staple crops, including soybeans and corn, is becoming increasingly challenged due to the impacts of a changing climate. This is especially true in the Cerrado region, which borders the Amazon and produces nearly half of the country’s agricultural products. Here, rainy seasons are beginning later and dry