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On July 11, an organic brunch was organized by the Instituto Biodinâmico and Greenpeace in the recently-inaugurated Hotel Melia Jardim Europa, in São Paulo. The aim was to show journalists, consumer and professional associations, and especially cooks, that the organic sector offers a wide range of certified, high-quality products.

We were very pleased to observe the presence of Velho Museu, a producer of certified (and delicious...) wine; and also the very promising appearance of organic plants and flowers from Chácara Santa Isabel. They will give hospitals, patients, convalescents and people with allergies a safe option for the decoration of their apartments and rooms. We wish to congratulate our sector for its dynamic and creative performance!

The management of Hotel Melia Jardim Europa showed its great interest in organic products. It was represented by the Chef, Claude Tohya, who was impressed by the Volkmann Rice; he showed his concern with the environment, as well as with the good health of his clients and friends, by explaining the original Green Floor concept.

Tânia and her Greenpeace team had prepared all the delicious dishes that were on offer with loving care. It was, therefore, a task very well done; it was a pity that there were more chiefs than Indians ...

The first Verdejar Award was presented in the fabulous scenery of the Benjamim Maranhão Botanical Gardens, a very large tract of the Atlantic Rain-Forest (mata atlântica) miraculously preserved in the center of João Pessoa, the capital of our State. The winners of the Award, created by Dr. Erasmo Rocha de Lucena, Superintendent of SUDEMA (the Environment Administration Superintendency), were the ten companies and ten municipalities of the State of Paraiba which most contributed to the preservation of the environment. Tamanduá Farm was privileged to receive its award from Dr. Erasmo himself, whose way of working in the environmental area has always been to give orientation to companies so that they could improve their operations, rather than to punish and fine them. He has thus achieved excellent results during his tenure.

Banco do Nordeste (the Bank of the North-East) explains the Award as follows :

"Selected from a universe of 1.3 million clients, 33 companies – from the 11 North-Eastern States and the Northern regions of the States of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo that comprise the area served by Banco do Nordeste – received the Enterprise 21 Award.

This award was created with a view to acknowledging, stimulating and rewarding successful entrepreneurial initiatives which are supported by Banco do Nordeste. The Award is based on criteria such as employment and income generation, environmental impact, stimulus to the formation of associations, investment in worker training, profitability, management, technological innovation, sales network, associations established and other items that show the importance of the enterprise to the community. The choice of these criteria is based on Banco do Nordeste’s operational strategy to give support to the regional productive sectors, stimulating enterprises that do not only take into account economic and financial indicators, but also reveal a commitment to corporate social responsibility and the sustainable development of the Region."

For Tamanduá Farm, which in 2002 completes 25 years working in the semi-arid region of the State of Paraiba, this award represents the recognition of its uninterrupted and unremitting efforts in the sertão with the purpose of finding solutions that are environmentally, socially and economically viable.