Soy production in Brazil is contributing to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, both directly through forest clearing for new soy farms (usually giant in size) and by displacing small farmers who then move into forest areas for subsistence agriculture. Further pressure comes from the development of infrastructure (like roads and ports) to support soy expansion. This infrastructure attracts other developers (like loggers, ranchers, and colonists who have been displaced from elsewhere) who cut down the forest.
Why is soy expanding in the Amazon?
Soybean cultivation is expanding in the Amazon due to economics, including high prices for grains. These high prices are driven by increasing demand for meat in countries with a large and fast-growing middle class (especially India, Brazil, and China) and U.S. government subsidies for corn-based ethanol production. Such subsidies (essentially payments to farmers for growing certain crops) mean that American farmers are planting corn instead of soy. Less soy production in the United States, means that more production is needed in places like Brazil, which has large tracts of lands suitable for agriculture.
Since 1990 the area of land planted with soybeans in Amazonian states has expanded at the rate of 14.1 percent per year and now covers more than eight million hectares.
If they take away the rainforests they take away the lungs of the world
tomcatty: Soy production in Brazil is contributing to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, both directly through forest clearing for new soy farms (usually giant in size) and by displacing small farmers who then move into forest areas for subsistence agriculture. Further pressure comes from the development of infrastructure (like roads and ports) to support soy expansion. This infrastructure attracts other developers (like loggers, ranchers, and colonists who have been displaced from elsewhere) who cut down the forest.
Why is soy expanding in the Amazon?
Soybean cultivation is expanding in the Amazon due to economics, including high prices for grains. These high prices are driven by increasing demand for meat in countries with a large and fast-growing middle class (especially India, Brazil, and China) and U.S. government subsidies for corn-based ethanol production. Such subsidies (essentially payments to farmers for growing certain crops) mean that American farmers are planting corn instead of soy. Less soy production in the United States, means that more production is needed in places like Brazil, which has large tracts of lands suitable for agriculture.
Since 1990 the area of land planted with soybeans in Amazonian states has expanded at the rate of 14.1 percent per year and now covers more than eight million hectares.
If they take away the rainforests they take away the lungs of the world
You may not realise it but some of the everyday items we innocently consume are indirectly fuelling the destruction of the Amazon.
UK farms supplying milk and dairy products for Cathedral City Cheddar, Anchor butter and Cadbury chocolate feed their cattle soy from a controversial agribusiness accused of widespread deforestation in Brazil.
The complex soy supply chains that link British dairy to environmental devastation thousands of miles away in Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado region have been uncovered by a probe led by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, alongside Greenpeace Unearthed, Daily Mirror and ITV News.
Both areas are critical for biodiversity and tackling climate breakdown. The Cerrado region, where most of Brazil’s soy is grown, is home to 5% of the world’s plant and animal species.
Anna Jones, Greenpeace UK’s head of forests, said: “Many people will be appalled to hear that their cheese and butter are linked to forest destruction on the other side of the Atlantic.
“And yet huge chunks of Brazilian forests and other vital ecosystems are still being cut down to grow tonnes and tonnes of soya that’s then fed to chickens, pigs and dairy cows in the UK. The global meat and dairy industry is fuelling the climate and nature emergency, and this needs to stop.”
Don't forget the deforestation as a result of cattle farming.
It's much more efficient, environmentally friendly and healthier to eat the soya beans, rather than processing them through a cow.
I tried tempeh for the first time yesterday. I simply marinated it in tamari, a few drops of liquid hickory smoke and baked it. It was unusual, but nice and I'm going to try a satay style marinade next time.
jac_the_gripper: Don't forget the deforestation as a result of cattle farming.
It's much more efficient, environmentally friendly and healthier to eat the soya beans, rather than processing them through a cow.
I tried tempeh for the first time yesterday. I simply marinated it in tamari, a few drops of liquid hickory smoke and baked it. It was unusual, but nice and I'm going to try a satay style marinade next time.
Yes the cattle are fed with soya sustainable source, and unsustainable. Which is used in other products.
tomcatty: Yes the cattle are fed with soya sustainable source, and unsustainable. Which is used in other products.
ike palm oil, the global food industry has become utterly reliant on soya. The size of the global meat and dairy industry has exploded and soya production has vastly increased to meet it.
Most soya comes from the Americas and nearly half from just two countries, Brazil and Argentina. Growth of the soya industry has been meteoric – production in Brazil has quadrupled in just 20 years. The UK imports huge quantities of soya and globally some 90% of soya is used to feed animals, including cows, pigs and chickens.
This rapid growth has come at a huge cost. Vast areas of forest and natural habitats have been destroyed, replaced with mile upon mile of soya fields. Converting forests and grasslands into monocrop farmland for soya releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases which cause climate change. Trees are very good at absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, so fewer trees means more carbon stays in the atmosphere.
Huge tracts of the forests in South America have been lost at the hands of the expanding soya industry. People protecting the forest, including Indigenous Peoples and local activists, have been intimidated, attacked and even killed.
But since 2006, the industry has agreed not to buy soya from farmers that destroy the Amazon rainforest – and this has dramatically reduced deforestation for soya in the Brazilian Amazon. The pioneering agreement was the result of a Greenpeace campaign that showed how McDonald’s and other food companies were selling meat reared on Amazon soya.
Almost everything we as humans use on a daily basis contains palm oil which has devastated much of the planet for years due to deforestation to allow growth of said plant. Now it's the soy plant.
Nothing will change when making money is more important then respecting the world that we live in.
jac_the_gripper: If I ate bugs, you'd be the first on my chopping board.
You should eat bugs, Jac, a liberal told me that bug farts are endangering the climate.. Of course they also told me that Biden is a great President, and that giving billions in weapons to the enemy is no big deal... LET'S GO BRANDON....
You all have it all wrong. The simplest way to reduce or stop the ravages of man on this earth is to stop frigging making babies. You can play all the games you want with your data and stats. If you allow the population to settle and maybe even shrink, there will be massive reductions in pollution, deforestation, demand on all utilities, etc.. You say or imply you "care." But you really dont. The very idea of not making babies freaks the Hill out of most of you. Countries: If you want to try to save your country, you have to have strong borders where border hoppers are on SOS. Shoot On Sight. But you dont even got the NUTS to do that. The United States for example. Borders open, rapid decline. You even allow other countries to mass breed, then send their populations to your country to let you support them. Pathetic.
Firebrand1000: You all have it all wrong. The simplest way to reduce or stop the ravages of man on this earth is to stop frigging making babies. You can play all the games you want with your data and stats. If you allow the population to settle and maybe even shrink, there will be massive reductions in pollution, deforestation, demand on all utilities, etc.. You say or imply you "care." But you really dont. The very idea of not making babies freaks the Hill out of most of you. Countries: If you want to try to save your country, you have to have strong borders where border hoppers are on SOS. Shoot On Sight. But you dont even got the NUTS to do that. The United States for example. Borders open, rapid decline. You even allow other countries to mass breed, then send their populations to your country to let you support them. Pathetic.
mikey4691: You should eat bugs, Jac, a liberal told me that bug farts are endangering the climate.. Of course they also told me that Biden is a great President, and that giving billions in weapons to the enemy is no big deal... LET'S GO BRANDON....
FJB...
It's Thursday, right?
Aka, Friday Eve celebrated with the pretence of martinis?
That'll be why you're unaware I'm much to posh to fart.
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