9/14/2023 0 Comments Paraffin wax candles toxic![]() ![]() For example, many farms in the Brazilian Cerrado and Amazon average 1,000 ha and even up to 50,000 ha (70,000 football pitches). Let’s not forget that when we cut this forest down, we’re destroying not only some of the most unique habitats in the world and all the services that they provide, but also the homes of everything that lives in them.Ī lot of American soybean production is operated on a large industrial scale, which tends to be bad news to smallholders. Other areas at risk include the Atlantic Forest, the Chiquitano Dry Forest, the Gran Chaco, the Pampas in Argentina, the North American prairies and the Uruguayan Campos. Research hows that soy production for consumer markets has been linked to habitat loss in Brazil and could be a threat to biodiversity.Ī Brazilian moratorium on growing soy in land cleared from Amazon forest has helped reduce this, but other habitats such as the Cerrado haven’t seen the same attention, it’s lost around half of its natural vegetation since the 1950’s a large part of this due to soy expansion.Biological diversity is extremely important for a variety of reasons, not just for its own sake, but also for larger global issues such as climate change, resource regulation, soil health and more. Much of this land is incredibly biologically diverse – it’s home to a great array of animals and habitat compositions. The largest expansion of soy production has been in South America and it’s already contributed to deforestation and change in many important habitats such as the Amazon and Cerrado. We need somewhere to grow all this soy and Europe isn’t facilitating it all yet. There’s a problem here though right? The demand for soy is growing, we need more land to grow it and workers to farm it and we need to get it from where it’s grown to where it’s used. Production is increasing and demand is growing, it’s a huge industry with some pretty massive players. Soy producers, users and vendors have been largely un-reigned in marketing the environmental, ethical and ecological benefits of soy, often on an unfounded basis.Īt the moment soy is a capitalists dream.Reduced restrictions on trade after the formation of the World Trade Organisation has made soy cheaper to import.The growth of the biofuel market has increased demand of soy for biodiesel.The growth of aquaculture has increased demand for soy based fish feed.The ban on processed animal proteins has highlighted soy as an alternative.European agricultural policy makes tariffs on animal feed low, making soy meal relatively cheap to import. ![]() Several things have assisted soy's popularity as a resource: ![]() For comparison, this area is equivalent to 90% of all the agricultural area of Germany, just for soy. This soy demand equates to around 15mil ha of land, 13 million of which is in South America. It’s estimated the total area of soy now covers the combined area of France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.Įurope (where we're based) imports around 35x more soy than it produces. Soy production has grown tenfold in the last 50 years, fuelled by its high yield per area, variety of uses and easily marketable environmental benefits. ![]()
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