The rhetoric and reality of Brazilian soy expansion

Overview

Despite claims by Brazil that it can more than double agricultural output without cutting down a single Amazon tree, the reality is that surging demand for global commodities is driving soy cultivation inexorably into the Amazon basin. Industry and government have paid some lip service in the past 18 months to limiting soy purchases from the Amazon biome to forestall criticism from environmentalists about further deforestation. However, curtailing soy expansion is easier said than done...