Meet Tamanduá Farm

A pioneer in the organic sector and in biodynamic agriculture, the Tamanduá Farm is located in the city of Santa Teresinha, in the sertão of Espinharas, State of Paraíba, in the Northeast of Brazil. The presence of an imposing rock formation typical of the sertão, the inselberg called Serrote Tamanduá, was what originated the name of the Farm, which belongs to Mocó Agropecuária Ltda since 1977.

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What we produce at the Farm

Brown Swiss Cattle

Animals for Sale

Propolis

Spirulina

Honey

Melon

Mango

Mango Pulp

Watermelon

Special Rice

Rice Flour

Mango production 2020

Biodynamic spirulina production

Interview with Arthur Navarro

IBAMA Superintendent

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Fauna

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Ilustrated Fauna from Tamanduá Farm

We have established the largest Private Reserve of Natural Heritage in the upper sertão of Paraíba with more than 350 acres. With years of research and studies, Tamanduá Farm has transformed itself into a refuge and sanctuary where amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, until recently considered almost extinct, live and reproduce, such as wild cats (jaguarundi and margays), the hoary fox, crab-eating racoons, the East Brazilian chachalaca and the Red-shouldered spinetail and even migratory birds from the United States and Canada such as the Peregrine Falcon.

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Flora

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Herbaceous Plant Guide of Tamanduá Farm

The predominant vegetation is dense shrub-tree caatinga, in good condition, composed mainly of deciduous and thorny species, with the occurrence of annual cacti and herbaceous plants that develop during the rainy season.

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Cultura

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Cultura

Fazenda Tamanduá is also concerned with valuing the culture of the sertão, whether through traditional events such as the Festa Junina da Paraíba, São João, music and local poetry, as well as taking and expanding the knowledge of this culture to other countries.

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The Wonders you can only find here

The Private Natural Heritage Reserve of the Tamanduá Farm is a valuable contribution to the conservation of the Caatinga biodiversity, sheltering and protecting a wide variety of animal and plant species.

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Didier Jean

There is one person we cannot forget if we want to tell the story of the Tamanduá Farm: Didier Jean, a quiet person, but who played a very important role.

In 1976, I decided to buy a farm in the sertão of the Northeast to produce long-fiber cotton, following the guidelines of French IRCT researcher Jacques Boulanger, who worked at SUDENE in elaboration and genetic improvement, and was the father of C71.

I went to see up close what their production system was. They practiced the famous cattle/cotton binomial.

Passionate about growing cotton, I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about cattle management and reproduction techniques.

My friend Didier Jean, a Parisian architect, thought this challenge was at the level of his abilities. He has a degree in “Conduite de troupeau,” artificial insemination, and did an internship at INRA, a French research organization like EMBRAPA, to learn the innovative technique of embryo transfer via cervical route, without surgical intervention.

I arrived from São Paulo at the Tamanduá Farm in April 1977, speaking Portuguese quite well, and started to organize things, mainly telling residents that we were going to abandon the “meia” system of pay and hire all as employees, giving them more financial security.

I started communicating with the Paraíba Agricultural Office, preparing the Tamanduá Farm to become a producer of selected C71seeds, which it was until 1984. It was a fruitful cooperation and it taught me a lot.

The dairy cattle on the Farm held a few dozen cows led by Araruta, Carapeta, Schwitinha, who left 15 calves behind, and the bull, Givanildo, of the Schwitz breed, who had suffered from foot-and-mouth disease and was quite ugly, but energetic and yielding reasonable offspring.

Didier arrived in July 1977, the savior of the herd, bringing ideal and updated knowledge to organize and resize our flock in an efficient and productive way. A great challenge that he took on with courage and determination.

We opted for the Brown Swiss breed, which was already well established in the Northeast, and artificial insemination, which could bring about a rapid improvement in animal quality.

The only problem was that he didn’t speak a word of Portuguese and even with the herdsmen who were very interested in his knowledge, it was not easy, at least initially.

Besides, I decided to leave for a while to try to convince Catherine, my future wife, to visit the Farm where I would be living from now on.

Didier was alone!

A long-time friend, completely trustworthy, we moved forward together in this beautiful adventure that is the Tamanduá Farm.

An important step was to value the milk, which until then was sold to milkmen from the city of Patos who came daily to collect it on motorcycles, with drums that were already filled with water or even small fish...

We set up the cheese-making business, with SIF, producing local cheeses, like curds, but also matured European cheeses, like Saint Paulin and Reblochon.

We performed the first embryo transfer via cervical route in Brazil.

We imported pregnant heifers from Switzerland.

We participate in fairs in Parnamirim and Recife, collecting awards, divulging our breed and selling our animals.

At the end of the cotton cycle, we decided to implant the irrigated mango fields.

One of the exceptional strengths that Didier possessed was his calm nature. Because he had a certain visibility in the region and was a foreigner, all inspections and verifications landed here, and a lot of time was lost explaining and demonstrating our good faith. Didier, who said he was “inemmerdable,” withstood the pressure with tranquility.

Thanks to his presence, Catherine and I had the opportunity to see our 3 children grow up, initially on the Farm with French National Education courses, also sailing around the world. Then, at boarding schools and universities in Europe, always leaving with no worries, knowing that the Tamanduá Farm was in good hands.

Slowly, the Farm became more and more structured, and Didier and I grew old... Our super-active roles waned, and we went on to supervision and strategy.

Didier moved away, went to the coast, close to the sea that he loves, and I went back to Europe, to be closer to family, but our hearts still beat for the Tamanduá Farm and its history.

Thank you so much, Didier!

Text by: Pierre Landolt