Colombia recently passed a law requiring the cattle industry to make their beef supply chains more transparent and traceable. The legislation aims to fight illegal deforestation linked to livestock production.
The new law requires cattle to be traced from ranch to supermarket. Government agencies and companies will use monitoring systems to close loopholes and keep livestock linked to illegally cleared land out of supply chains.
Juan Carlos Losada, a Member of the House of Representatives of Colombia and one of the law’s sponsors, calls the legislation “a powerful tool.”
The legal requirement moves beyond voluntary private sector commitments in Colombia, which “have proved to be insufficient to solve the problems of deforestation,” a report from the Environmental Investigation Agency states.
“Legislation is an effective way to address conservation challenges such as deforestation because it establishes minimum requirements and creates a level playing field,” Fernando Bellese de Cesaro, Senior Director, Beef and Leather Supply Chains at WWF US, tells Food Tank.
The law reflects a broader shift as governments and food systems leaders recognize that the movement toward deforestation-free products requires reliable data systems, says Erin Taylor Cooper, Head of Growth for Wholechain.
To be successful, however, traceability must be integrated throughout the entire supply chain, rather than placing responsibility solely on the farmer.
“Traceability is often confused with first-mile monitoring, farm mapping, or life cycle assessment,” Taylor tells Food Tank. “Those tools are important, but they do not follow the movement of goods through aggregation, processing, transformation, and trade.” Without this, the data can become disconnected from the products.
Wholechain, a blockchain-based traceability solution, recently helped to create the Global Traceability Framework for Beef and Leather along with Better Food Future, WWF, Institute of Food Technologists, Rever, and FAI Farms, and with the support of the Tapestry Foundation. Taylor Cooper explains that the goal is to “provide the common data foundation needed to connect origin, movement, transformation, and claims across the full supply chain.”
Bellese echoes the importance of connectivity across the supply chain and praises the new legislation for emphasizing this. “It allows existing systems and traceability mechanisms to work together, facilitating implementation and reducing duplication of efforts,” he explains.
In a country that ranks among the world’s top 12 for forest cover, the conservation and sustainable use of Colombia’s forests is essential to meeting global biodiversity and climate goals, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Beef production is responsible for 25 percent of global land-use change, according to WWF, and it is a major driver of deforestation in Colombia. Data from the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies reveal that 2025 saw a considerable drop in deforestation compared to the previous year, but illegal forest clearing continues to threaten further progress.
The new legislation will be rolled out over the next two years. Over the next six months, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must develop a certification system that will identify deforestation-free products. They will also create programs that help suppliers comply with the new regulations and provide funding to improve monitoring systems.
The implementation of new laws always comes with challenges, Bellese says, emphasizing the need for this compliance support to ease the transition for farmers and ranchers. “This is especially important for small and medium-sized producers, who often face greater challenges in meeting new requirements if they are not adequately supported,” he tells Food Tank.
By next year, government agencies will need to regulate traceability systems. By the end of the implementation window, supply chain actors including slaughterhouses, meat processors, cattle auctions, traders, and live cattle exporters must implement policies and practices to ensure their supply chains are deforestation-free.
Bellese says he is “very hopeful” that other countries will follow suit. He points to initiatives that are already taking place in Brazil at the state and federal levels which demonstrate that governments increasingly recognize the importance of tackling deforestation. The European Deforestation Regulation, UK Environment Act, and other global initiatives are also adding to the momentum.
“It is recognized as a key strategy to combat climate change and support more resilient agricultural systems,” Bellese tells Food Tank. “That said, we would like to see these discussions and actions progress more quickly.”
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