“On-farm” Production of Bioinputs in Brazil: Solution for Greater Agricultural Productivity or Imminent Risk to Public Health?

Even though population growth has slowed somewhat in recent years, the significant increase in human longevity poses a major challenge to food availability. For this, it is necessary to increase cultivated areas, which in many countries would mean using preservation areas or improving the productivity of areas already used for agriculture. To increase productivity without increasing environmental damage, many in the agricultural sector are adopting biological inputs as an alternative to chemical products. The production of a commercial bioinput, from its development to its approval for commercialization, includes numerous safety and effectiveness tests, which requires significant investment and time. Aiming to reduce the production costs of bioproducts, Brazilian rural producers are manufacturing their bioinputs “at home", i.e., the “on-farm” production. However, in several analyses of these bioinputs, contaminating microorganisms were identified, such as pathogenic bacteria, which, when increased in the cultures of “on-farm” products, can become a risk to human, animal, and environmental health. Although there is a legislative debate on this subject in Brazil, with the possibility of government inspection of production, there is still much to be clarified on this issue. Thus, this review article aims to alert the scientific community and government officials about the risks of this production practice, which could seem to be a solution for reducing costs in agriculture. However, without proper care, it can cause more significant problems, such as human, animal, and environmental contamination by handling pathogens not identified by the producer.