This document offers an overview of the expansion of soybean cultivation into forest and cerrado (bush savannah) biomes in Brazil. It presents the situation in three cases: the Uruçuí region in the state of Piauí, the state of Mato Grosso and the Humaitá region in the state of Amazonas. Information is based on field and desk research carried out in Brazil and Germany in 2003.

Soybeans

Soybeans are very suitable for capital-intensive, large-scale cultivation. As soybeans yield 18 percent oil and 79 percent meal after processing, the market for soybean products is mostly driven by the livestock feed industry. Brazil (42 million tons in 2002 or 23 percent of world production) is the second largest producer after the United States (74.3 million tons or 41 percent), ahead of Argentina (30 million tons or 17 percent) and China (16.9 million tons or nine percent). World production in 2002 totalled 180 million tons1.

Rapid expansion of soy cultivation in Brazil started in the early 1970s. Starting with three million hectares in 1970, planted area expanded continuously, reaching a record harvest of 52 million tons on 18.5 million hectares in 2003, an increase of over two million hectares compared to 2002. Brazil's soybean producers, scientists, agricultural politicians and traders consider a total area of 100 million hectares suitable for planting soybeans2. Brazilian industry and research agencies are striving to challenge the role of the USA as the world's market leader. World demand for vegetable oil and highly valuable protein feed has grown steadily in both developing and industrialized countries, particularly since the BSE crisis. The price of soybean at the Chicago stock exchange rose to $12-13 per sack (60 kilograms) in the first half of 2003, making private and public investment in this grain legume attractive. Harvests in Brazil are pre-financed mainly by international corporations like Bunge, Cargill, Dreyfus and ADM, and by multinational fertilizer and pesticide companies which supply technology packages at the same time. Brazil's foreign exchange income from soybean exports was more than $6 billion in 2002, a sum urgently needed to service its foreign debts and stabilize its foreign trade balance; more than $8 billion of revenue from soybean exports are expected for 2003.

Due to the mechanized character of cultivation, soy is planted almost exclusively on plains offering easy access for farm machinery. Many state governments in Brazil are aiming to convert their sparsely populated subtropical and tropical plains to soy production areas to boost their economies. As there is little room for agricultural expansion in the south and southeast of Brazil, future soybean expansion will take place in central and northeastern Brazil and the southern Amazon region, where cheap land is abundant.

This expansion has direct and indirect impact on natural habitats of high conservation value, the livelihoods of people and endangered species, depending on their habitats. Problems related to rapid soybean expansion include widespread deforestation of the cerrado and southern Amazon forest frontier, massive pesticide application, concentration of land into large enterprises that force out small farmers, neglect of staple food production for local consumption, and increasing cultivation of genetically modified soybeans bearing risks for the environment and human health.

- Impacts of Soybean – download