The rotation of crops model has proved to be victorious in the social, environmental, and economic aspects. It brings agronomical benefits to the soil and to the following crop, creates jobs and means extra income to the producer with the optimization of the soil use.
Farmers, small- and mid-size property owners, started to produce by leasing lands from large-size owners and sugarcane mills. As peanut producers they have overcome the challenge to keep themselves in the field, what would be - in many instances - unfeasible due the requirement of the sugarcane crop scale. The areas responsible for producing ethanol and sugar have opened room for the highly selected peanut.
Environmental preservation and social contribution initiatives are highlighted in the acting of Coplana, which was the country’s first company to deploy a Pesticide Packing Receiving Center, in April 1994.
The initiative was a benchmark in order to set out the legislation (Law 9974/2000), which determines the area’s responsibilities. The Brazilian work is a model in the world and reaches the first place in returning packings, with a 94% return of sold materials. Among Coplana’s cooperative members the level reaches nearly 100%.
From the beginning of the Central's activities to date, one canopy collected 14.974 tons of packaging. The annual volume collected is 500 tons.
The Reforesting the Water Sources project was set up in September 2005 with the purpose of recovering Permanent Preservation Areas in the Cooperative region, involving the community, students and social project members. An increased volume and improved quality of the hydrological resources, in addition to the benefits to the biodiversity, are among the already obtained results.
The Live Brook ("Córrego Vivo") Project, set up in 2009, supplements these actions. Coplana coordinates the two projects together with the Municipal Department of Agriculture and Environment of Jaboticabal as well as with the Environmental Police. The rural producer is responsible for conducting the reforested area.
The two initiatives together total 180.000 seedlings planted, with the recovery 170 hectares.
The Proper Application ("Aplique Certo") Project is an initiative of Socicana, in partnership with Coplana and Arysta, set up in 2005 with the purpose of promoting the rational use of pesticides. The idea came up after the identification of losses of products, such as fungicide and insecticide, when there was no equipment maintenance or proper application. The Cooperative’s technicians, at the properties, evaluate the machine, engine, and equipment structure condition.
Among the main results already obtained are: greater safety in the applications of agricultural pesticides; reduction in the costs for the rural producer; and lower environmental impacts. The initiative reaches all of Coplana’s cooperative members with properties within a region of 100 municipalities in the State of Sao Paulo.
Even though it is not an area's manufacturer Coplana is attentive to the reverse logistics of materials such as batteries and cells. Therefore, in October 2011 it launched the "Recycle Batteries and Cells: You and Coplana Preserving the Environment" program.
The team keeps collectors at the Cooperative's stores and movable devices at schools in the municipalities and at educational events, what allows the community to participate. The materials are intended for the Abinee Receives Batteries Program (Abinee Brazilian Association of Electrical/Electronic Companies), a joint initiative by manufacturers and importers, which complies with the resolution of Conama National Environmental Council.
The collected material is sent to specialized companies which perform the disposal and recycling in compliance with the environmental legislation.
Since 2009, the Cooperative relies on an internationally acknowledged Independent Audit and, due to a statutory determination, the contracted company must be among the top six major companies in Brazil. The reports are reviewed every quarter, and the model is the same as that implemented in open capital companies, what ensures the information reliability according to global standards.
Coplana relies on an Advisory Board, consisting of ex-directors, which role is to discuss topics proposed by the officers. This Board couples the historic experience with a forward-looking view in a mature and assertive debate with significant results for the Cooperative's strategy.
Other initiatives to keep its management on high levels are the existence of Independent Advisors, who are professionals from the agribusiness areas and financial sector, with the purpose of helping the decision-making process.
In order to support the activity growth, meet the new demands by the membership and the market requirements, the Cooperative relies on various committees.
The Credit and Finance Committee is responsible for developing the policy to grant credit to cooperative members and customers, deliberate on the granted limits, guarantees and credit recovery, following the standards of the major national banks.
The Risk Management Committee performs the diagnosis in the Cooperative’s acting areas and develops mitigation policies.
The Succession Committee develops new leadership formation and integration programs among the cooperative members, empowerment for the administration of agricultural cooperatives and identifies successors in its various areas.
The Development Cores have been consolidated as the dialog channel between Coplana's Management and the cooperative members in its various regions. These are commissions set up by the producers and families, which contribute to the Cooperative improvement. Among their objectives are to identify new leaderships and discuss about the rural company succession process. There are currently the Cooperative Member Cores per region, in addition to the Youth Core and Woman Core.
Since 2006, Coplana's grain producing members (peanut, corn and soybean) make donations to the Cancer Hospital of Barretos (Pio XII Foundation). The amount donated every year derives from part of the production. When marketing the product Coplana ascertains the result and makes an allocation to the entity. In thirteen years, the amount of R$ 933.190,12 (unadjusted amount) has already been donated.
The donation occurs due to the relevance of the Hospital, which serves patients from the Unified Health System (SUS), all over Brazil.
In partnership with the Socicana (Sugar Cane Suppliers Association of Guariba) and Sicoob Coopecredi (Credit cooperative), Coplana conducts the Calendar Project. The objective is the dialogue with the public on issues of social interest, such as sustainability, cooperativism, associativism and financial education.
Students from 8 to 14 years old can participate, being children, grandchildren, nephews and nices of Cooperative´s Members and Associated. All the participants wiil be involved in one day activities to create drawings and phrases, which will compose the calendars of the three entities of the following year. All the works are done with the collaboration of the participants.