RIAC appoints executive secretary and begins planning for 2026.

The Agriculture and Climate Intelligence Network (RIAC) On March 10th, at Insper Agro Global in São Paulo, a meeting took place that marked a new cycle for the alliance. On that occasion, Fernando Sampaio was announced as the network's executive secretary. An agricultural engineer and former sustainability director of the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporting Industries (Abiec), Sampaio arrives to provide more operational structure to the initiative, at a time when RIAC is gaining increasing prominence in the Brazilian and international agroclimatic debate. In addition to the announcement, the meeting's central objective was to initiate discussions on the network's governance and the planning of its activities for 2026.

With the presence of representatives from the member institutions — Agroicone, FDC Agroambiental, FGV Agro, Insper Agro Global, Insper Metricis, Instituto Equilíbrio, and Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (Ipam) — the event marks the most recent chapter in a trajectory that has been gaining momentum since the formal launch of the alliance in October 2025. RIAC also has the support of the Instituto Clima e Sociedade (iCS), which was also present at the meeting, and the Coalizão Brasil Clima, Florestas e Agricultura.

Created with the goal of guiding public policies and enhancing the debate on the transition to Regenerative Tropical Agriculture (RTA), RIAC presents itself as an independent and non-partisan alliance. Its focus is on articulating technical, scientific, and financial proposals around a production model that combines soil health restoration, efficient use of inputs, low-carbon practices, and biodiversity protection—a path that seeks to reconcile productivity, profitability for farmers, and mitigation of climate change.

The network gained international visibility during COP30, held in Belém in November 2025. panel “The role of regenerative tropical agriculture for the climate agenda,” the RIAC institutions presented their research agendas and discussed the alliance's role in consolidating the theme in global climate negotiations. Insper Agro Global was represented by researcher and professor Gabriela Mota da Cruz, who reinforced the importance of data capable of reflecting the reality of tropical agricultures to guide public policies and investments. The dialogue was moderated by Daniel Parreiras, from FDC, and included the participation of Ludmila Rattis (FDC/Ipam), Talita Pinto (FGV Agro), Rodrigo Lima (Agroicone), and Eduardo Bastos (Instituto Equilíbrio). On the occasion, RIAC also delivered studies to the COP30 presidency, represented by André Corrêa do Lago.

With an executive secretary appointed and an agenda for 2026 under construction, the network is moving forward in structuring its governance—a fundamental step in transforming the scientific alignment between institutions into concrete proposals for policies and practices for tropical agriculture.