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Five multinational food trading companies have decided to stop sourcing soya beans grown on newly deforested land in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.
The US commodities giants ADM, Bunge and Cargill, together with French-owned Dreyfus and Brazilian-owned Amaggi, have imposed the ban after talks with corporate customers such as Asda, McDonald’s and Waitrose.
They were alerted to the issue by Greenpeace, which published evidence from a three-year investigation that land clearance for soya production is a main cause of Amazon rainforest destruction. Pat Venditti, Greenpeace’s senior forest campaigner, told EP that about five per cent of soya from Brazil comes from land cleared within the Amazon rainforest.
The five companies, which together account for most of Brazil’s soya trade, have agreed not to source soya grown on deforested Amazon land for at least two years while they work out a policy with their corporate customers and Greenpeace.
A working group of soya traders, producers, non-governmental organizations and the Brazilian government is being set up.
Cargill, the world’s largest privately owned company, said the agreement amounted to ‘a pledge that we will not purchase soya from lands in the Amazon biome that are deforested after 24 July 2006, beginning with the crop that will be planted in October 2006’. It said the ban was ‘intended to alleviate soy-related development pressure’.
Soya is Brazil’s main cash crop, and soya farming – much of it on illegally cleared land – is causing ‘unprecedented’ rainforest destruction, says Greenpeace. Most soya goes to Europe to feed chickens, pigs and cows for meat products.
Greenpeace praised the customer companies for their ‘responsible and swift’ response. ‘The part played by food companies selling products which have a direct link to Amazon deforestation for soya has been crucial in bringing the big soya traders to the negotiating table,’ it said.
But Ian Bowles, Asda’s head of CSR, said: ‘To help this initiative succeed we should also look to develop an economic mechanism to reward countries that are prepared to safeguard ancient forests like the Amazon biome. That will provide a longer-term solution without hindering the economic development of countries like Brazil.’
The US commodities giants ADM, Bunge and Cargill, together with French-owned Dreyfus and Brazilian-owned Amaggi, have imposed the ban after talks with corporate customers such as Asda, McDonald’s and Waitrose.
They were alerted to the issue by Greenpeace, which published evidence from a three-year investigation that land clearance for soya production is a main cause of Amazon rainforest destruction. Pat Venditti, Greenpeace’s senior forest campaigner, told EP that about five per cent of soya from Brazil comes from land cleared within the Amazon rainforest.
The five companies, which together account for most of Brazil’s soya trade, have agreed not to source soya grown on deforested Amazon land for at least two years while they work out a policy with their corporate customers and Greenpeace.
A working group of soya traders, producers, non-governmental organizations and the Brazilian government is being set up.
Cargill, the world’s largest privately owned company, said the agreement amounted to ‘a pledge that we will not purchase soya from lands in the Amazon biome that are deforested after 24 July 2006, beginning with the crop that will be planted in October 2006’. It said the ban was ‘intended to alleviate soy-related development pressure’.
Soya is Brazil’s main cash crop, and soya farming – much of it on illegally cleared land – is causing ‘unprecedented’ rainforest destruction, says Greenpeace. Most soya goes to Europe to feed chickens, pigs and cows for meat products.
Greenpeace praised the customer companies for their ‘responsible and swift’ response. ‘The part played by food companies selling products which have a direct link to Amazon deforestation for soya has been crucial in bringing the big soya traders to the negotiating table,’ it said.
But Ian Bowles, Asda’s head of CSR, said: ‘To help this initiative succeed we should also look to develop an economic mechanism to reward countries that are prepared to safeguard ancient forests like the Amazon biome. That will provide a longer-term solution without hindering the economic development of countries like Brazil.’
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