Ana Carolina Zimmermann, from Gois in Brazil, receives a 2022 Nuffield International Scholarship supported by Bayer and The Chris Reichstein Philanthropy Fund.
Ana manages Ribeiro Farm, 800-hectare family beef business with 1,100 Nelore cattle in a rotational grazing regime. Ana is also an independent consultant, working with agri-companies to improve business performance.
Ana has a Production Engineering degree from the University of Braslia and has both an MBA in Agribusiness and an MBA in Project Management from the University of So Paulo/ESALQ. Ana is also a co-founder of BASE - Brazil Agro Society Environment, an organization that aims to promote good practices of sustainable agriculture in Brazil and abroad. She is passionate about agricultural education, and the opportunity presented by Nuffield.
"I am a CNA Jovem Program finalist, which is aimed at rural Brazilians with a spirit of leadership. During that process I felt a strong call to study innovation in agribusiness around the world. I planned a global trip, but my family acquired a new farm about the same time, and I pledged to manage it, postponing my travel plans," she said.
"Then I learned about Nuffield Scholarships, and I felt it was the right opportunity with a clear purpose, amazing network to fulfill my potential, as well as hopefully delivering a positive impact in Brazil with my learnings."
Ana's study topic focuses on how to transform Brazil into a recognised agri-environmental power.
"It is known that Brazil has a vocation for agribusiness and sustainability, but we still have a serious problem of communication and reputation. Besides several isolated initiatives to address the sustainability of agri-food systems, there is no innovative ecosystem governance, and we are losing strength when we could be co-creating solutions - using rural and urban talent - for a more resilient, sustainable agri-food-system."
"I want to study the different narratives that farmers use to understand how to create partnerships that foster open innovation, as well as investigate how networks nest within other networks in a self-organised form to create a thriving cohesive ecosystem that generates human prosperity while respecting the limits of our planet."
Ana plans to visit the USA, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Israel, the EU and Australia and will deliver her findings through podcasts and YouTube videos, as well as implementing new practices on farm and developing a large, open innovation lab.
