Much of the talk around the Mercosur trade deal has been on equivalent standards, with several references being made to the differences in production standards between the South American countries and the standards European farmers have to comply with in Europe.

This compliance comes at a huge cost to European farmers. While the European Commission is adamant that safeguards and controls have been put in place around these standards, there is a fear within Europe that South America could have issues with compliance on these standards.

Just last month a report carried out by the European Commission showed that Brazil cannot prove its beef supplied to the EU market is not treated with the hormone oestradiol.

The report which was compiled as a result of an audit which took place between 27 May and 14 June 2024 also found that livestock farms in Brazil were not legally required to keep on-farm treatment records on the use of veterinary medicinal records.

While improvements have been made on traceability, they are still not at the level Europe is currently working at.

There is also the huge question of deforestation and environmental regulation. Deforestation is reducing under the current Brazilian presidency but still taking place at a huge scale.

In the 12 months to July 2024 there had been 6,288km2 of the Amazon rainforest destroyed in Brazil.

To put that in context, that’s 1,350 Croke Park pitches a day of rainforest being burned.