Ensuring Responsible Soy Production in the Amazon

Cargill has joined other leading Brazilian soy processors and exporters to agree to a one-year extension to the Soy Moratorium originally signed on 24 July 2006 not to purchase soy from lands that have been deforested in the Amazon Biome from this date.

The extension was announced on 17 June 2008 jointly by ABIOVE (Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries) and ANEC (National Association of Grain Exporters), with the Brazilian Environment Minister, Carlos Minc and the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have been working with industry as part of the Soy Working Group. It reconfirms industry’s commitment to work with all stakeholders to curb deforestation and ensure responsible and sustainable soy production in the Amazon Biome.

In support of the extension agreement, the Brazilian Environment Minister announced that Economic-Ecologic Zones are to be established. These Zones will help to clearly identify and agree areas for development and environmental conservation, and will support the efforts of the Moratorium by providing official guidance on where soy can be produced. They also will support the implementation of a rural environmental license system and enable an updated official map of the Amazon Biome to be finalised.

Objectives of the Soy Moratorium

The Soy Moratorium agreement is a significant step in helping curb the deforestation of land for soybean growing in the Amazon Biome (the largest biome in the Legal Amazon and includes the Amazon rainforest). Its main objectives are to develop a governance structure for the responsible production of soy within the Amazon Biome, discouraging deforestation and reconciling economic development and socio-environmental conservation to help protect the Amazon rainforest.

Soybean growing represents less than 0.3% of the total Amazon Biome. To have the right to use their property for agricultural development, farmers must accept their obligation to preserve 80 percent of the land in forest areas and 35 percent in the Cerrado grasslands without any payment or subsidy from the government. While the Brazilian Forest Code clearly defines these legal obligations, approximately 40 percent of the Legal Amazon is public land under dispute. This results in people deforesting new areas and then claiming land possession. The poorly defined property rights mean that it is difficult to identify offenders and to apply adequate penalties especially across such a vast area of over 4 million square kilometers (400 million hectares).

Since the Moratorium was agreed to, Cargill, alongside the rest of the industry, has been working with NGOs in a Soy Working Group. The group includes Greenpeace, The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International and the WWF, amongst others. This multi-stakeholder group is focusing its efforts to ensure responsible and sustainable soy production in the Amazon and to put in place an effective and transparent system to monitor soy production and curb deforestation in the region.

The Soy Working Group identified its main priority areas as part of the overall program to put in place a transparent, independently audited monitoring system to verify that soy has not been produced from recently deforested land. Along with clear land-use planning and zoning schemes, developed in collaboration with the Brazilian government, to identify areas for development and environmental conservation, this will provide a long-term solution to maintaining responsible soy production and preserving the Amazon Biome.

• Developing an effective mapping and monitoring system – existing maps and information have been reviewed by IBGE (official agency responsible for this data) in order to agree an official map of the Amazon Biome in a useful scale (1: 250,000). Key regions have been prioritized and areas that have been deforested since August 2006, which may have been used to plant soybeans, are being inspected to prevent crops from being traded.
• Developing environmental education activities to promote good agricultural practices and compliance with the Brazilian Forest Code – training and information is being provided to farmers. Alongside efforts from the Brazilian government these are increasing awareness of the Forest Code and putting in place local solutions to help ensure all producers are in compliance with the law. Already over 13,000 booklets have been produced to help rural producers and other key local stakeholders better understand the objectives of the Moratorium and learn about good agricultural practices.
• Developing relationships with regional and federal government – the Soy Working Group is developing relationships, and having constructive dialogue, with regional and federal government to enhance official control, land rights and other issues in order to improve the development of soy production in the Amazon Biome.

Progress under the Soy Moratorium

The first independent monitoring results on land use on areas deforested after 24 July 2006 released on 31 March 2008 showed there has been no soy planting on the areas being monitored in the Amazon Biome under the Moratorium.

The monitoring, which was undertaken by Globalsat – an independent specialist in agricultural monitoring and analysis – was carried out using official data and satellite imagery from INPE (National Institute for Space Research) in conjunction with flights over and field visits to each of the 193 areas in the states of Mato Grosso, Pará and Rondônia to photograph and document how the land is being used. Both industry and NGOs in the Soy Working Group agreed the monitoring should focus on areas of deforestation over 100 hectares – which is regarded as the minimum area that is economically feasible to cultivate soybeans. However, additional pilot studies also carried out in deforested areas under 100 hectares in three locations also found no soy planting has been undertaken.

Although the results are a positive reflection of the work and progress of the Soy Moratorium, all members of the Soy Working Group recognize deforestation remains an important concern and there is still much work needed to control and curb levels in the Amazon Biome.

Following the extension of the Moratorium and the additional support of the federal government, the Soy Working Group is hopeful that the approval and implementation of Ecologic & Economic Zoning, the promotion of land registry to reduce illegal occupation and deforestation of public lands, and improvements to the structure for rural environmental licensing can be achieved. The Working Group is also working with producers to encourage the adoption of good agricultural practices and compliance with the Brazilian Forest Code.

Ensuring responsible labor practices

The Soy Moratorium also reconfirms our industry’s commitment to support the Brazilian government’s campaign to eradicate abusive labor practices in Brazil with support of Ethos Institute and the International Labour Organization.

Cargill does not accept the use of illegal, abusive or enforced labour in any of our operations and abide by the laws in the countries in which we operate. Our contracts stipulate that we have the right to refuse deliveries of soy or refuse payment if we suspect slave or child labour was used in its production.

Cargill, as an individual company, and through ABIOVE – the Brazilian soy processing trade association – is a signatory to the Brazilian National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labour. This initiative, led by the Ethos Institute – a leading Brazilian NGO – represents a public commitment by leading corporations to join the Brazilian government in its concerted effort to eradicate abusive labour practices.

Related resources

• Visit ABIOVE’s website for more information on the Soy Moratorium and to view the results of the independent monitoring on land use in the Amazon Biome
• Read the announcement on the one year extension to the Soy Moratorium
• Read the Terms of Commitment agreed for the one year extension to the Soy Moratorium
• Read Cargill’s view on the Greenpeace report Eating up the Amazon

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