Brazil’s Cattle King Backs Amazon Traceability Drive
Brazil’s “King of Cattle” Leads Amazon Green Push as Traceability Takes Hold
XINGUARA, BRAZIL – 9 June 2025 – Decades of ranching in the Amazon have brought immense wealth, and some controversy, to Roque Quagliato, Brazil’s prominent “King of Cattle.” However, at 85, Quagliato is now at the forefront of a crucial initiative: leading the charge to reform cattle ranching in the Amazon, a region grappling with its status as one of the world’s biggest drivers of deforestation. This pivotal shift is detailed in a report by Reuters.
As Brazil’s beef industry faces increasing pressure from major export markets, Quagliato’s operations are pivotal. His cattle were the first to be tagged with microchips in their ears as part of a ground-breaking government programme aimed at making millions of cattle in the Amazonian state of Para fully traceable. This programme is set to be a key highlight as world leaders converge for the United Nations climate summit in November.
“What we hope is that, at the end, the international market gives Brazil a better price,” Quagliato told Reuters during a recent cattle auction in Xinguara, a major beef hub in Para. He added pointedly, “Deforesters…are now a matter for jail.”
Quagliato’s vision extends to securing access to more demanding and higher-value markets in the United States, Europe, and Asia. These regions often impose strict standards due to concerns around animal health and links to deforestation. According to Renan Araujo, a senior market analyst at S&P Global, “Brazil is hustling to open high-demand markets such as Japan and South Korea, and improving its traceability system is one of the key steps to reaching that goal.”
Para, home to a cattle herd of 26 million (comparable to Australia’s size), aims to tag all its cattle by 2027. This ambitious target positions the state as a testbed for a wider national policy and a major shift for Brazil, the world’s largest beef exporter. While the law, passed in late 2023, requires identification by the end of 2026, progress has been slow, with only about 12,000 cattle tagged by May.
Beyond deforestation, individual tagging also enhances animal health tracking, allowing health agencies to quickly identify and isolate sick cattle. Data from 2024 shows that the average price of Brazilian beef exports is 8% lower than Uruguay’s, which already tracks cattle individually, suggesting a market reward for traceable herds.
Despite his current leadership in sustainability, Quagliato’s family faces ongoing scrutiny over past environmental impacts and labour practices. Brazil’s federal environmental protection agency confirmed Quagliato has settled his deforestation fines, agreeing to forest regeneration. A family member was recently convicted of submitting workers to slave-like conditions, though he is appealing. Quagliato declined to comment on these specific cases.