Brazilian farmers are (very) online

Available for over a year

Being a farmer in Brazil has never been cooler - at least, that’s the impression you might get from social media. Music videos featuring cowboy hat wearing farmers, driving tractors and boasting about their wealth, have garnered millions of views online. Meanwhile, farmers turned influencers offer a window into rural life, insisting Brazil is not just a country of football and Carnival, but of farming. Critics say social media has become the latest battleground in a long-running effort by Brazil’s powerful agribusiness industry to improve the way it is perceived. They say posts and videos like these are part of a public relations push meant to distract from the sector’s poor environmental track record. But farmers argue their livelihoods are being targeted by “ideologues” and “activists”, who fail to grasp where their food really comes from. Do they have a point? And as Brazil prepares to host COP30, how does this idealized image of agribusiness fit into a world facing climate change? Reporter: Marco Silva Editor: Flora Carmichael