Latest news with #XiaopengSong
The Star
3 days ago
- Science
- The Star
Greenwashed and growing
BRAZILIAN soy farmers are pushing deeper into the Amazon rainforest, threatening a landmark deal meant to slow deforestation. Many are capitalising on a loophole in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a voluntary pact signed in 2006 by the world's top grain traders, pledging not to buy soy grown on land deforested after 2008. The moratorium protects old-growth rainforest, but excludes secondary forests – vegetation that regrew after land was previously cleared. Though crucial to the Amazon's health, these areas can be legally razed and planted with soy, all without violating the deal's terms. The resulting crops can even be marketed as 'deforestation-free'. The most recent moratorium report, covering the 2022–2023 season, showed soy planted on virgin forest had nearly tripled since 2018 to reach 250,000ha – 3.4% of all soy grown in the Amazon. But the actual figure may be much higher. Xiaopeng Song, a University of Maryland geographer who has tracked soy expansion, found more than 1.04 million hectares – or 16% of soy-planted land in the Brazilian Amazon – had been deforested since 2008. His satellite data suggest four times the forest loss reported. 'I would like to see secondary forest and recovered forest included in the moratorium,' Song said. 'It creates loopholes if we only limit it to primary forest.' Abiove, the soy industry body overseeing the agreement, said the moratorium was designed to curb destruction of old-growth forests. Broader definitions used by other studies could lead to 'inflated interpretations', it added. The report's figures are based on data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, which is internationally recognised and independently monitored. Abiove admitted some soy is planted on land where regrown forests had been cleared – but has defended the current framework. A chain, normally used connected to tractors to fell down trees at the last stages of clearing land, lying in a field. — Reuters Shrinking buffer The distinction between primary and secondary forests carries serious consequences. Secondary forests may be younger and initially less biodiverse, but they play a critical role in absorbing carbon and restoring damaged ecosystems. 'Secondary forests are crucial to limiting global warming,' said Viola Heinrich, a researcher at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences. 'We cannot achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement without actively increasing the carbon sink.' While they store less carbon than primary forests, secondary forests absorb it faster, making them vital in slowing the Amazon's drift towards a tipping point – when deforestation, heat and drought could trigger its irreversible transformation into a dry savannah. Most scientists now argue that stopping deforestation alone isn't enough; reforestation is essential. 'Stolen again' Late last year, under blistering heat on the edge of Santarem, a port city on the Amazon River, farmers were clearing land – stacking tree trunks in neat rows, ready to burn. Satellite images showed this was once cattle pasture that had regrown into secondary forest over three decades. 'What can be stolen once can be stolen again,' said Gilson Rego, of the Pastoral Land Commission, a church-linked group that works with locals impacted by deforestation. He pointed to nearby soy fields that had been planted in the past five years. The area's rapid transformation is largely due to the Cargill grain terminal, which offers easy export access – cutting logistics costs and fuelling the soy boom. Cargill did not respond to requests for comment. The surge helped Brazil overtake the United States in 2020 as the world's top soy exporter. About two-thirds of Brazil's soy goes to China, where major buyer Cofco, a signatory to the moratorium, claims it remains committed to the deal. Nearly all the soy is used as animal feed for global meat production. Still, Song estimates that without the moratorium and related conservation efforts, an additional six million hectares of forest might have been lost to soy in Brazil. By comparison, neighbouring Bolivia, which lacks such controls, has become a deforestation hotspot. A rural cemetery surrounded by a soy field where soybean farming expanded in the Amazon. — Reuters Pressure to backslide Brazilian farmers have long opposed the moratorium, arguing it unfairly penalises them. Even minor infractions can lead traders to block purchases from entire farms – a policy Abiove is considering relaxing. Roughly 10% of Amazon soy farmland is currently blacklisted. 'It's not fair that countries in Europe can deforest to grow, and now we're held back by laws that aren't even ours,' said Adelino Avelino Noimann, vice-president of the soy farmers' association in Para state, which includes Santarem. Farming groups allied with right-wing politicians have ramped up legal and legislative attacks on the moratorium in Brasilia and across several agricultural states, seeking to dilute its protections. In April, a Supreme Court justice said Brazil's largest soy-growing state, Mato Grosso, could withdraw tax breaks from companies that honour the moratorium – a move yet to be confirmed by the full court. Abiove president Andre Nassar told senators that the agreement's rules might need to be watered down to placate growers: 'The solution is not ending the moratorium or keeping it as it is. Something needs to be done.' Global traders – including ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Cofco and Louis Dreyfus Company – have remained tight-lipped. But Greenpeace, which takes part in some discussions, said there's pressure behind the scenes to weaken the deal. Even so, environmentalists say the moratorium remains vital. 'We still see the expansion of soy in the Amazon,' said Andre Guimaraes, executive director of IPAM, an environmental research group. 'But it could be worse.' Soy vs schools The rich soil and ample water of the Amazon have drawn farmers from across Brazil, particularly from Mato Grosso, the soy heartland. 'Here, we can have as many as three harvests,' said Edno Valmor Cortezia, head of the local farmers' union – rotating soy, maize and wheat on the same plot in a single year. In Belterra, near Santarem, soy fields have crept up to a school and even a cemetery. Raimundo Edilberto Sousa Freitas, the school principal, showed court records from two pesticide incidents last year that affected 80 students and teachers. One farmer was fined, but soy continues to sprawl through the area. Occasionally, a few lone trees – protected by law – stand in vast expanses of soy, the last hints of the vibrant biome that once covered the region. — Reuters
Canada News.Net
23-06-2025
- Science
- Canada News.Net
Soy crops push deeper into Amazon as pact faces political pressure
SANTAREM, Brazil: As Brazil cements its position as the world's top soy exporter, a new wave of deforestation is spreading across the Amazon, despite a key industry pact aimed at protecting the rainforest. Farmers are clearing large swathes of land to plant soy, using a loophole in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a 2006 voluntary agreement signed by major grain traders not to buy soy grown on land deforested after 2008. The Moratorium protects untouched, primary rainforest but excludes "secondary forests"—vegetation that regrew on previously cleared land. These areas, though ecologically important, can legally be razed for soy, allowing the grain to be marketed as "deforestation-free." According to the moratorium's latest report for 2022-23, soy cultivation in virgin forests has nearly tripled since 2018, reaching 250,000 hectares, 3.4 percent of all soy grown in the Amazon. However, independent research shows that the real footprint is likely far larger. Satellite data analyzed by Xiaopeng Song, a geography professor at the University of Maryland, found that 16 percent of soy-producing land in the Brazilian Amazon—about 1.04 million hectares—had been cleared after the 2008 cutoff. "It creates loopholes if we only limit it to primary forest," he said. The soy industry body Abiove, which oversees the pact, acknowledged that some soy is being planted where secondary forests were cut. Still, it defended the Moratorium's narrow definition, arguing broader interpretations could lead to "inflated" assessments of deforestation. Scientists warn that even regrown forests play a crucial role in carbon capture and biodiversity. "We cannot achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement without actively increasing the carbon sink," said Viola Heinrich of the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences. Secondary forests absorb carbon faster than primary ones, she noted. Near the Amazon port city of Santarem, soy farming is accelerating. "What can be stolen once, can be stolen again," said Gilson Rego of the Pastoral Land Commission, observing soy fields replacing secondary forest. Farmers are drawn by easy access to Cargill's shipping terminal, which reduces transport costs. Cargill declined to comment. China is the top buyer of Brazilian soy, primarily for animal feed. Cofco, China's leading grain trader, remains a signatory to the Moratorium and says it remains committed. Despite this, political pressure is growing to weaken the pact. Some right-wing lawmakers and farm groups have filed lawsuits and proposed laws to soften the rules. In April, a Supreme Court justice backed Mato Grosso's plan to revoke tax benefits for signatories. That ruling awaits full court approval. Even Abiove president Andre Nassar hinted at reform: "Something needs to be done." Soy farmers say current rules are unfair. "It's not fair that other countries in Europe could deforest and grow, and now we are held back by laws that are not even ours," said Adelino Avelino Noimann, a soy association leader in Pará state. However, environmentalists say that removing protections could lead to far greater damage. "We still see the expansion of soy in the Amazon," said IPAM director Andre Guimaraes. "But it could be worse."
Mint
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Mint
A corporate deal that protected the Amazon from soy farming starts to show cracks
* Brazilian farmers are pushing soy crops deeper into Amazon * Powerful farm lobby attacks Amazon Soy Moratorium * Regrown rainforest does not get the same protection SANTAREM, Brazil, June 20 (Reuters) - Brazilian soy farmers are pushing further into the Amazon rainforest to plant more of their crops, putting pressure on a landmark deal signed two decades ago aimed at slowing deforestation. Many are taking advantage of a loophole in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a voluntary agreement signed by the world's top grain traders in 2006 that they would not buy soy grown on land deforested after 2008. protects old-growth rainforest that has never before been cleared, but excludes many other kinds of vegetation and forests that have regrown on previously cleared land, known as secondary forests. While this land is also important for preserving the fragile Amazon biome, farmers can raze it and plant soy without violating the terms of the Moratorium and could even market it as deforestation-free. The most recent official annual report on the Moratorium, which covers the crop year 2022-2023, showed that soy planted on virgin forest has almost tripled between 2018 and 2023 to reach 250,000 hectares, or 3.4% of all soy in the Amazon. Its study area is limited to municipalities that grow over 5,000 hectares of soy. However, Xiaopeng Song, a professor at the geographical sciences department of the University of Maryland who has tracked the expansion of soy over the past two decades, found more than four times that forest loss. Satellite data he analyzed exclusively for Reuters shows 16% of Brazilian Amazon land under production for soy, or about 1.04 million hectares, is planted where trees have been cleared since 2008, the cutoff date agreed in the Moratorium. "I would like to see secondary forest and recovered forest included in the Moratorium," said Song. "It creates loopholes if we only limit it to primary forest." Abiove, the soy industry body overseeing the Moratorium, said in a statement that the agreement aims to rein in deforestation of old-growth forests while other methodologies have broader criteria that could lead to "inflated interpretations." Reuters was unable to make a detailed comparison because Abiove declined to share granular data. Data in the Moratorium report comes from Brazil's National Institute of Space Research, and its assessments are recognized internationally and monitored independently. Abiove said it was aware that some soy was planted in areas where regrown forests had been cut. The discrepancy over how to define a forest has huge implications for conservation. Deforestation, drought and heat driven by climate change bring the rainforest closer to a tipping point beyond which it starts an irreversible transformation into a savannah. Most scientists are calling not only for a halt to all deforestation but also for increased efforts to reforest. Viola Heinrich, a post-doctoral researcher at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, who has extensively studied secondary forests in the Amazon, said these were "crucial" in limiting global warming even if initially less biodiverse. "We cannot achieve the goals of the without actively increasing the carbon sink," she said, referring to regenerating ecosystems that rapidly Secondary forests absorb carbon at a faster rate than old-growth forests, but store less of it. On a scorching afternoon late last year, on the outskirts of Santarem, a port city by the Amazon River, farmers were in the last stages of clearing land. Felled trees were neatly stacked up in rows, ready to be burnt. Some of these trees were around three decades old, part of a secondary forest on land that was once razed to make way for cattle but later abandoned, satellite images showed. "What can be stolen once, can be stolen again," said Gilson Rego, of the Pastoral Land Commission, a church-affiliated group working with locals affected by deforestation, as he pointed to surrounding areas where soy had been planted. In the last five years, Rego saw the area dedicated to the crop soar. More than a dozen soy and subsistence farmers who spoke to Reuters said the main draw was the nearby Cargill terminal from where soy is shipped worldwide because it reduces costs for logistics. Cargill did not respond to requests for comment. The boom helped Brazil overtake the United States in 2020 as the world's largest soy exporter. About two thirds of it ships to China, whose largest buyer, Cofco, has signed up to the Moratorium and said earlier this year that it was committed to it. Nearly all of it is used to fatten animals for meat production. Still, Song estimated an additional 6 million hectares of the rainforest would have been lost to soy in Brazil without the Moratorium and related conservation efforts, considering the pace of expansion elsewhere. Neighboring Bolivia, he said, had become a deforestation hot spot. Brazilian farmers have always opposed the Moratorium and complained that even a small amount of deforestation can lead traders to block purchases from entire farms, a policy that Abiove is considering changing. Thousands of properties that cover some 10% of soy's footprint in the region are currently blocked. Adelino Avelino Noimann, the vice president of the soy farmers association in Para state, where Santarem is located, said the soy boom was creating opportunities in a poor country. "It's not fair that other countries in Europe could deforest and grow, and now we are held back by laws that are not even ours," said Noimann. LEGAL ATTACKS Farming groups allied with right-wing politicians, once a fringe movement, have launched lawsuits and legislative attacks on the Moratorium in the capital Brasilia, and half a dozen major agricultural states, seeking to weaken its provisions. At the end of April, a justice from Brazil's Supreme Court said it would allow the country's biggest farming state, Mato Grosso, to withdraw tax incentives from signatories of the Moratorium. The ruling still needs to be confirmed by the full court. Andre Nassar, the president of Abiove, the soy industry body that oversees the Moratorium, has already hinted that it could weaken rules to appease farmers. "The solution is not ending the Moratorium or keeping it as it is," Nassar told senators in April. "Something needs to be done." Global traders including ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Cofco and Louis Dreyfus Company had all signed up back in 2006. Abiove and the grain traders it represents have declined to publicly discuss details but environmental group Greenpeace, which is part of some discussions, said last year that behind closed doors there was a push from traders to weaken it. Environmentalists like Andre Guimaraes, an executive director at IPAM, another nonprofit that monitors the agreement, said that even with its faults it was important. "We still see the expansion of soy in the Amazon," he said. "But it could be worse." Other environmentalists said it should be reinforced by closing loopholes. Abundant water and nutrient-rich soil are the main reasons farmers from other parts of the country, including the soy heartland Mato Grosso, have moved to Para. "Here, we can have as many as three harvests," said Edno Valmor Cortezia, the president of the local farmers union, adding that farmers there can grow soy, corn and wheat on the same plot in a single year. In the municipality Belterra near Santarem, soy expansion stopped short only at a local cemetery and school. Raimundo Edilberto Sousa Freitas, the principal, showed Reuters court records and supporting evidence for two instances when 80 children and teachers had symptoms of pesticide intoxication last year. One farmer was later fined, the records showed, but the crop continues to claim more of the area every year. Occasionally, a few imposing trees that are protected by law are left in sprawling fields of soy, the last reminder of the lush biome that was once there. (Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher in Santarem, Brazil; additional reporting by Ana Mano in Sao Paulo; editing by Manuela Andreoni, Brad Haynes and Claudia Parsons)
Time of India
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
A corporate deal that protected the Amazon from soy farming starts to show cracks
Brazilian soy farmers are pushing further into the Amazon rainforest to plant more of their crops, putting pressure on a landmark deal signed two decades ago aimed at slowing deforestation. Many are taking advantage of a loophole in the Amazon Soy Moratorium , a voluntary agreement signed by the world's top grain traders in 2006 that they would not buy soy grown on land deforested after 2008. The Moratorium protects old-growth rainforest that has never before been cleared, but excludes many other kinds of vegetation and forests that have regrown on previously cleared land, known as secondary forests. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Don't Miss The Top Packaging Trends Of 2024, Enhnace Your Brand With The Latest Insights Packaging Machines | Search Ads Search Now Undo While this land is also important for preserving the fragile Amazon biome, farmers can raze it and plant soy without violating the terms of the Moratorium and could even market it as deforestation-free. The most recent official annual report on the Moratorium, which covers the crop year 2022-2023, showed that soy planted on virgin forest has almost tripled between 2018 and 2023 to reach 250,000 hectares, or 3.4% of all soy in the Amazon. Live Events Its study area is limited to municipalities that grow over 5,000 hectares of soy. However, Xiaopeng Song, a professor at the geographical sciences department of the University of Maryland who has tracked the expansion of soy over the past two decades, found more than four times that forest loss. Satellite data he analyzed exclusively for Reuters shows 16% of Brazilian Amazon land under production for soy, or about 1.04 million hectares, is planted where trees have been cleared since 2008, the cutoff date agreed in the Moratorium. "I would like to see secondary forest and recovered forest included in the Moratorium," said Song. "It creates loopholes if we only limit it to primary forest." Abiove, the soy industry body overseeing the Moratorium, said in a statement that the agreement aims to rein in deforestation of old-growth forests while other methodologies have broader criteria that could lead to "inflated interpretations." Reuters was unable to make a detailed comparison because Abiove declined to share granular data. Data in the Moratorium report comes from Brazil's National Institute of Space Research , and its assessments are recognized internationally and monitored independently. Abiove said it was aware that some soy was planted in areas where regrown forests had been cut. The discrepancy over how to define a forest has huge implications for conservation. Deforestation, drought and heat driven by climate change bring the rainforest closer to a tipping point beyond which it starts an irreversible transformation into a savannah. Most scientists are calling not only for a halt to all deforestation but also for increased efforts to reforest. Viola Heinrich, a post-doctoral researcher at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, who has extensively studied secondary forests in the Amazon, said these were "crucial" in limiting global warming even if initially less biodiverse. "We cannot achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement without actively increasing the carbon sink," she said, referring to regenerating ecosystems that rapidly absorb and store carbon. Secondary forests absorb carbon at a faster rate than old-growth forests, but store less of it. 'STOLEN AGAIN' On a scorching afternoon late last year, on the outskirts of Santarem, a port city by the Amazon River, farmers were in the last stages of clearing land. Felled trees were neatly stacked up in rows, ready to be burnt. Some of these trees were around three decades old, part of a secondary forest on land that was once razed to make way for cattle but later abandoned, satellite images showed. "What can be stolen once, can be stolen again," said Gilson Rego, of the Pastoral Land Commission , a church-affiliated group working with locals affected by deforestation, as he pointed to surrounding areas where soy had been planted. In the last five years, Rego saw the area dedicated to the crop soar. More than a dozen soy and subsistence farmers who spoke to Reuters said the main draw was the nearby Cargill terminal from where soy is shipped worldwide because it reduces costs for logistics. Cargill did not respond to requests for comment. The boom helped Brazil overtake the United States in 2020 as the world's largest soy exporter. About two thirds of it ships to China, whose largest buyer, Cofco, has signed up to the Moratorium and said earlier this year that it was committed to it. Nearly all of it is used to fatten animals for meat production. Still, Song estimated an additional 6 million hectares of the rainforest would have been lost to soy in Brazil without the Moratorium and related conservation efforts, considering the pace of expansion elsewhere. Neighboring Bolivia, he said, had become a deforestation hot spot. Brazilian farmers have always opposed the Moratorium and complained that even a small amount of deforestation can lead traders to block purchases from entire farms, a policy that Abiove is considering changing. Thousands of properties that cover some 10% of soy's footprint in the region are currently blocked. Adelino Avelino Noimann, the vice president of the soy farmers association in Para state, where Santarem is located, said the soy boom was creating opportunities in a poor country. "It's not fair that other countries in Europe could deforest and grow, and now we are held back by laws that are not even ours," said Noimann. LEGAL ATTACKS Farming groups allied with right-wing politicians, once a fringe movement, have launched lawsuits and legislative attacks on the Moratorium in the capital Brasilia, and half a dozen major agricultural states, seeking to weaken its provisions. At the end of April, a justice from Brazil's Supreme Court said it would allow the country's biggest farming state, Mato Grosso, to withdraw tax incentives from signatories of the Moratorium. The ruling still needs to be confirmed by the full court. Andre Nassar, the president of Abiove, the soy industry body that oversees the Moratorium, has already hinted that it could weaken rules to appease farmers. "The solution is not ending the Moratorium or keeping it as it is," Nassar told senators in April. "Something needs to be done." Global traders including ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Cofco and Louis Dreyfus Company had all signed up back in 2006. Abiove and the grain traders it represents have declined to publicly discuss details but environmental group Greenpeace , which is part of some discussions, said last year that behind closed doors there was a push from traders to weaken it. Environmentalists like Andre Guimaraes, an executive director at IPAM, another nonprofit that monitors the agreement, said that even with its faults it was important. "We still see the expansion of soy in the Amazon," he said. "But it could be worse." Other environmentalists said it should be reinforced by closing loopholes. Abundant water and nutrient-rich soil are the main reasons farmers from other parts of the country, including the soy heartland Mato Grosso, have moved to Para. "Here, we can have as many as three harvests," said Edno Valmor Cortezia, the president of the local farmers union, adding that farmers there can grow soy, corn and wheat on the same plot in a single year. In the municipality Belterra near Santarem, soy expansion stopped short only at a local cemetery and school. Raimundo Edilberto Sousa Freitas, the principal, showed Reuters court records and supporting evidence for two instances when 80 children and teachers had symptoms of pesticide intoxication last year. One farmer was later fined, the records showed, but the crop continues to claim more of the area every year. Occasionally, a few imposing trees that are protected by law are left in sprawling fields of soy, the last reminder of the lush biome that was once there.
Reuters
20-06-2025
- Science
- Reuters
Insight: A corporate deal that protected the Amazon from soy farming starts to show cracks
SANTAREM, Brazil, June 20 (Reuters) - Brazilian soy farmers are pushing further into the Amazon rainforest to plant more of their crops, putting pressure on a landmark deal signed two decades ago aimed at slowing deforestation. Many are taking advantage of a loophole in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a voluntary agreement signed by the world's top grain traders in 2006 that they would not buy soy grown on land deforested after 2008. The Moratorium, opens new tab protects old-growth rainforest that has never before been cleared, but excludes many other kinds of vegetation and forests that have regrown on previously cleared land, known as secondary forests. While this land is also important for preserving the fragile Amazon biome, farmers can raze it and plant soy without violating the terms of the Moratorium and could even market it as deforestation-free. The most recent official annual report on the Moratorium, which covers the crop year 2022-2023, showed that soy planted on virgin forest has almost tripled between 2018 and 2023 to reach 250,000 hectares, or 3.4% of all soy in the Amazon. Its study area is limited to municipalities that grow over 5,000 hectares of soy. However, Xiaopeng Song, a professor at the geographical sciences department of the University of Maryland who has tracked the expansion of soy over the past two decades, found more than four times that forest loss. Satellite data he analyzed exclusively for Reuters shows 16% of Brazilian Amazon land under production for soy, or about 1.04 million hectares, is planted where trees have been cleared since 2008, the cutoff date agreed in the Moratorium. "I would like to see secondary forest and recovered forest included in the Moratorium," said Song. "It creates loopholes if we only limit it to primary forest." Abiove, the soy industry body overseeing the Moratorium, said in a statement that the agreement aims to rein in deforestation of old-growth forests while other methodologies have broader criteria that could lead to "inflated interpretations." Reuters was unable to make a detailed comparison because Abiove declined to share granular data. Data in the Moratorium report comes from Brazil's National Institute of Space Research, and its assessments are recognized internationally and monitored independently. Abiove said it was aware that some soy was planted in areas where regrown forests had been cut. The discrepancy over how to define a forest has huge implications for conservation. Deforestation, drought and heat driven by climate change bring the rainforest closer to a tipping pointbeyond which it starts an irreversible transformation into a savannah. Most scientists are calling not only for a halt to all deforestation but also for increased efforts to reforest. Viola Heinrich, a post-doctoral researcher at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, who has extensively studied secondary forests in the Amazon, said these were "crucial" in limiting global warming even if initially less biodiverse. "We cannot achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement without actively increasing the carbon sink," she said, referring to regenerating ecosystems that rapidly absorb and store carbon. Secondary forests absorb carbon at a faster rate than old-growth forests, but store less of it. On a scorching afternoon late last year, on the outskirts of Santarem, a port city by the Amazon River, farmers were in the last stages of clearing land. Felled trees were neatly stacked up in rows, ready to be burnt. Some of these trees were around three decades old, part of a secondary forest on land that was once razed to make way for cattle but later abandoned, satellite images showed. "What can be stolen once, can be stolen again," said Gilson Rego, of the Pastoral Land Commission, a church-affiliated group working with locals affected by deforestation, as he pointed to surrounding areas where soy had been planted. In the last five years, Rego saw the area dedicated to the crop soar. More than a dozen soy and subsistence farmers who spoke to Reuters said the main draw was the nearby Cargill terminal from where soy is shipped worldwide because it reduces costs for logistics. Cargill did not respond to requests for comment. The boom helped Brazil overtake the United States in 2020 as the world's largest soy exporter. About two thirds of it ships to China, whose largest buyer, Cofco, has signed up to the Moratorium and said earlier this year that it was committed to it. Nearly all of it is used to fatten animals for meat production. Still, Song estimated an additional 6 million hectares of the rainforest would have been lost to soy in Brazil without the Moratorium and related conservation efforts, considering the pace of expansion elsewhere. Neighboring Bolivia, he said, had become a deforestation hot spot. Brazilian farmers have always opposed the Moratorium and complained that even a small amount of deforestation can lead traders to block purchases from entire farms, a policy that Abiove is considering changing. Thousands of properties that cover some 10% of soy's footprint in the region are currently blocked. Adelino Avelino Noimann, the vice president of the soy farmers association in Para state, where Santarem is located, said the soy boom was creating opportunities in a poor country. "It's not fair that other countries in Europe could deforest and grow, and now we are held back by laws that are not even ours," said Noimann. Farming groups allied with right-wing politicians, once a fringe movement, have launched lawsuits and legislative attacks on the Moratorium in the capital Brasilia, and half a dozen major agricultural states, seeking to weaken its provisions. At the end of April, a justice from Brazil's Supreme Court said it would allow the country's biggest farming state, Mato Grosso, to withdraw tax incentives from signatories of the Moratorium. The ruling still needs to be confirmed by the full court. Andre Nassar, the president of Abiove, the soy industry body that oversees the Moratorium, has already hinted that it could weaken rules to appease farmers. "The solution is not ending the Moratorium or keeping it as it is," Nassar told senators in April. "Something needs to be done." Global traders including ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Cofco and Louis Dreyfus Company had all signed up back in 2006. Abiove and the grain traders it represents have declined to publicly discuss details but environmental group Greenpeace, which is part of some discussions, said last year that behind closed doors there was a push from traders to weaken it. Environmentalists like Andre Guimaraes, an executive director at IPAM, another nonprofit that monitors the agreement, said that even with its faults it was important. "We still see the expansion of soy in the Amazon," he said. "But it could be worse." Other environmentalists said it should be reinforced by closing loopholes. Abundant water and nutrient-rich soil are the main reasons farmers from other parts of the country, including the soy heartland Mato Grosso, have moved to Para. "Here, we can have as many as three harvests," said Edno Valmor Cortezia, the president of the local farmers union, adding that farmers there can grow soy, corn and wheat on the same plot in a single year. In the municipality Belterra near Santarem, soy expansion stopped short only at a local cemetery and school. Raimundo Edilberto Sousa Freitas, the principal, showed Reuters court records and supporting evidence for two instances when 80 children and teachers had symptoms of pesticide intoxication last year. One farmer was later fined, the records showed, but the crop continues to claim more of the area every year. Occasionally, a few imposing trees that are protected by law are left in sprawling fields of soy, the last reminder of the lush biome that was once there.
