I have a minor allergy to soy protein

The scenery on our 1 hour bus ride to a small farm outside of Santarém (the location of the birthday party for the director of Pastoral do Menor) reminded me of home- Pennsylvania, USA. Slightly rolling hills with farm fields and distant tree lines. All of the fields contain soybeans. Ten years ago most of these fields did not exist- instead the area was covered with trees… more like what one expects to find in the Amazon, neh?

Cargill built a soy processing facility in Santarém that became operational in 2003. The region does not have much industry, and individuals began to clear cut their land in order to plant soybeans. Cargill complied with state regulations, but at the time failed to complete the federally required Environmental Impact Statement. You can view Cargill´s statement about the issue here.

In 2006, due to international pressure, the major processors and exporters of soy in Brazil committed to not buy products from suppliers who planted on newly deforested land. They use satelite information to determine which areas of the forest have been cleared since Oct. 2006; if the areas were used to plant soy, they state that they will not purchase the product. (I am curious how well this is going.)

Expansive soy fields are not the only thing contributing to deforestation. Rice and corn (due to recent increased market demand) are other popular annual cash crops. Illegal logging, often for mahoghany to be used for furniture, and cattle ranches are also reasons individuals begin encroaching on the forest.

A couple of thoughts/questions I have as I learn about these issues:

How do you determine the balance between survival and development needs and their environmental impact? I do not want to see the Amazon forest destroyed, both because it is an amazing source of biodiversity and because the effects would be disastrous wordwide. At the same time I cannot blame local residents for wanting to provide for their families.

Does economic growth in the region have to be restricted in order to “save” the Amazon? Tropical soil is not particuarly rich. Annual crops quickly deplete nutrients from the topsoil. If the region wants to keep the soy industry alive in Santarém- as it is currently being implemented, new land will have to continually be cleared or fertilizers will need to be used heavily (which comes with its own set of problems).

The other option is to look at more sustainable cultivation techniques that mimic the biodiversity of the surrounding forest and focus on crops that continue to produce for multiple years (perrenials). Some of these crops include manioc, citrus, banana, vanilla, pineapple, papaya, cocoa, coffee, and rubber. These crops restore nutrients to the soil and provide varied income opportunities for farmers. Combining perrenials with annuals, forest and secondary growth could greatly reduce destruction of new forest areas.

In his book, Santarém Riverboat Town, our friend Steve Alexander references a Brazilian organization called SOPREN (Society for the Preservation of Cultural and Natural Resources of the Amazon) that focuses on tree replanting initiatives and hunger issues. Steve quotes the president of the organization as saying “Hunger does not listen to reasoning. It creates violence, to both mankind and the environment.”

I am also curious about the local level of interest in these topics. Children receive some environmental education in schools. The university across the street from Fundação Esperança has an Environmental Management major. Most local individuals that I talk with have reservations about the extraction of resources from the Amazon because of the resulting deforestation. But, I have not encountered many individuals with ideas about how things could be done differently.