The Soybean Dilemma
Soy production in the Amazon is gaining attention in the mainstream media lately, in part because of a port built on the Amazon River and also because of studies conducted by Greenpeace.
While previous studies focused on cattle grazing and logging, recent studies are finding that soybean production is now major factor in the destruction of the rain forest. In fact, according to the AP:
Soy farming has overtaken cattle ranching and logging as the worst destroyer of the rainforest. The Amazon lost 6,950 square miles of rainforest between 2003 and 2004. Some 4,633 square miles of soybeans were planted during that time, making Brazil the world’s No. 2 producer of soy after the United States. Brazil has so successfully adapted soy to the tropics that it exported $10 billion dollars worth last year — more than sugar and coffee combined.
One Greenpeace study, discussed in this Fox News article, points the finger at the usual suspect in rainforest deforestation - fast food restaurants. They argue that the soybeans are used to feed chickens, which then end up in European fast food chains. Greenpeace also states that “while American corporations like Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) and Cargill Inc. were responsible for distributing the soybeans, most of the soy from the Amazon goes to Europe and China, because the U.S. is largely self-sufficient in terms of soy production.”
Soybean production in the Amazon has skyrocketed in recent years thanks to growing international demand and the development, by Brazilian government labs, of a type of soybean that can grow in the region’s poor soil and punishing sun.
Environmentalists say that soybeans’ success has driven up the value of cleared jungle, leading to a cycle in which cattle ranchers sell off pasture land to soybean farmers and then clear new areas, selling the wood to loggers.
The silver lining in this article is the fact that the U.S. market is self-sufficient. Hopefully, awareness of the problem with soybean production in the Amazon will eventually lead to change.
[Photo from Wikipedia]
