In 1986, Balbo Group started a reforestation program with Brazilian native trees. The main objectives of such program were to create biodiversity islands integrated to the cropfields, water resources protection and generate good conditions for wild life multiplication. One year after, such initiative would lead to the Green Cane Project.

São Francisco and Santo Antonio mills keep nurseries capable to produce thousands of seedlings every year. A part of this production is distributed to city halls, schools and other institutions. The species multiplied in such nurseries are from Brazilian native forests, and each species is planted according to its aptness.

Over one million trees were planted in hundreds of hectares. Priority was given to areas alongside watercourses, lakes and those inserted in high ecological interest places, such as wetlands, which are nurseries for fishes, birds, mammals and other animals. Nowadays, the first planted areas are already forests of considerable size.

The association between organic agriculture practices and biodiversity islands undergone by Native has created good life conditions for many species who couldn’t survive in traditional farming.

The agroecological stewardship developed in the Green Cane Project, featuring activities like soil coverage by crops or mulch for almost all production cycle and the exclusive use of organic fertilizers and biological control, allowed the proliferation of many species of insects and other arthropods, fungi and beneficial microorganisms in the sugarcane fields. This microfauna is a reliable food basis, in a calm environmet, since sugarcanefields are harvested only once a year, therefore leading to the establishment of a rich food web formed by superior vertebrates. Animals like birds, reptiles, amphibians or mammals moved to sugarcane fields or their proximity because they find food there.

Embrapa Satelite Monitoring coordinated a study, between 2002 and 2003, performed by researchers from several Brazilian institutions, to inventory the existing food web in organic sugarcane fields, as well as to understand its relation to such fields and the balance between the species. This first study focused on birds and mammals. Afterwards, from 2006 on, a second study started, focusing on reptiles and amphibians.

Up to the beginning of 2008, 1,474 surveys were done, showing the organic sugarcane farms are allowing life conditions to a diversified list of wild species, without any interference in sugarcane yield.