My Food, Your Problem

Soybean fields in Brazil

Ensuring enough food to feed the world requires a global effort. However, accomplishing this huge feat should not come at the cost of other’s well being. Increasingly, countries rely on global supply chains to meet the food demands of their own population. People in China rely heavily on soybeans grown in Brazil as a source of protein (an overwhelming percentage goes to feed livestock, which humans then eat). China does not have enough land to meet its own demand, nor does it have adequate amount of water resources. As China’s population grows and middle class grows, this demand will only increase. Brazil has both the land and adequate water resources necessary to meet the growing demand of China. However, in doing so, unless adequately managed, meeting the needs of China could come at the cost of Brazil.

Brazilian soybean production has risen drastically in recent years. Between 1989 and 2009, soybean production grew from 20 million tons to 63 million tons. Soybean production has grown an average of 8% between 2000 and 2010. Additionally, in between 2000 and 2009, Brazilian soybean exports to China rose from 16% (1.8 million tons) of total soy exports to 56% (15.9 million tons). From a land perspective, predictions show an increase in farmland from 21.5 million hectares to 26.5 million hectares by 2019.[1]

What do all of these numbers mean? Basically, Brazil is growing a lot of soybeans and will be growing more soybeans to meet the rising demand in China and elsewhere. This will require even more land than is currently in soybean production. Where does this agriculture land come from? Almost half of the 5 million hectares increase is predicted to come from the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, which is abundant in pastureland that can be converted to soybean production. More than half of Mato Grosso is comprised of the Amazon rainforest. As soybean production increases in this region, efforts must ensure that the increasing pressures of cropland aren’t causing deforestation within the Amazon, whether from deforestation for cropland or deforestation for pastureland.[2] Essentially, meeting growing demands must be met in a sustainable manner.

The impacts of deforestation include the loss of Amazonian habitat and biodiversity, the release of CO2 emissions from a once forested carbon sink, soil erosion and nutrient runoff, species fragmentation and water pollution. This can affect local, indigenous tribes and have more globalized effects, as well. Already, deforestation within the Amazon region averaged 1.95 million hectares/year from 1996 to 2005.[3]

Multinational corporations, governments, NGOs, farmers and indigenous peoples must collaborate in order to ensure that global supply chains are not having negative effects on the producing country. Some strategies already in use include government regulations, establishment of protected areas, incentives to producers and suppliers and certification of products.

For more information, check out the source materials below.

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[1] Brown-Lima, Carrie, Melissa Cooney, David Cleary. “An overview of the Brazil-China soybean trade and its strategic implications for conservations.” 2010. The Nature Conservancy. 8 February. http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/southamerica/brazil/explore/brazilachinaa soybeanatrade.pdf. 

[2] Greenpeace (2006). Eating up the Amazon. Amsterdam, Greenpeace International.

[3] Nepstad, D. et al. (2009). "The End of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon." Science (4 DECEMBER): 1350-1351.

Photo Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PlantacaodeSoja.JPG