Brazil Cargill Soy Plant

Brazil Cargill Soy Plant



March 2007 - Brazil's Environmental 
Agency IBAMA has closed a large soy processing and shipping 
facility in the Amazon rainforest because it lacks an 
environmental impact assessment. The facility, built by U.S. 
commodity giant Cargill, has been controversial since 
Greenpeace discovered that large stretches of the Brazilian 
rainforest were being cleared to grow soy. 
Greenpeace alleges that Cargill illegally constructed the 
facility in Santarem, in the northern state of Para and the 
US$20 million port on the Amazon River. Both will remain 
closed while Brazilian environmental authorities and the 
company assess their environmental impact. 

A notice posted on the "Restricted Area" sign at the Cargill 
facility in Santarem, advises that the facility is closed. 

"This is an important day for the Amazon rainforest and for 
its people," said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace Amazon Campaign 
Coordinator in Brazil. 
"Thanks to the constant efforts of the Federal Ministry of 
Public Prosecution in Para state, a big step forward has been 
taken in enforcing the responsible use of natural resources 
and bringing greater governance in the Amazon," he said. 
"We trust that Cargill will respect this decision and conduct 
a broad environmental impact assessment, which will result in 
concrete measures to minimize the impacts of its port and soy 
expansion in the region," Adario said. "In that way, the 
company will also confirm its commitment to the moratorium on 
further deforestation for soy planting, announced in Brazil 
last year." 
The shutdown of Cargill's Santarem plant came after a request 
by the Federal Ministry of Public Prosecution to IBAMA, to 
"inspect and immediately stop the operations of Cargill port 
as well as condemn the North American multinational for 
illegal operation." 
Federal Judge Souza Prudent of the Regional Federal Court 
ordered the complete fulfillment of a decision made in 2000, 
which suspended all permits issued for Cargill's port in 
Santarem, which does not comply with the Brazilian laws which 
demand an environmental impact assessment for such facilities. 

In Santarem, Federal Prosecutor Felipe Friz Braga said, "This 
is a historical decision and it changes the pattern of lack of 
governance in the region." 
Back in 2000 the court granted an injunction that suspended 
authorization for the functioning of Cargill's port without 
the approval of an environmental impact assessment. 
Cargill presented seven appeals from this injunction over the 
past seven years, but the company lost each appeal. 
Under Brazilian law, the decision that is subject of dispute 
is not valid while the appeal is being judged. Therefore, even 
with a contrary decision from the judiciary, Cargill received 
authorization and constructed the port. 
At the time the company requested a license for the port, it 
did present an environmental control plan, but that is a 
document used to prevent accidents and does not satisfy the 
requirement to analyze the environmental impact of Cargill's 
agricultural activities in the Amazon, according to all the 
judges who analyzed the issue. 

Cargill Grain Terminal on the Amazon River at Santarem, Para 

Greenpeace says its research reveals the devastating impacts 
of soy cultivation on the world's largest tropical rainforest. 
In April 2006, the environmental group issued a report, 
"Eating up the Amazon" which showed how the world-wide demand 
for soy has led to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. 
The report documented how soy was shipped from Cargill's 
Santarem facility to Europe, to provide cheap feed for chicken 
which is then sold in fast food outlets and supermarkets. 
Last May, the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise blocked the 
Cargill port, while activists protested at the facility. 
Also in May, Cargill issued a report in which the company 
said, "We agree with Greenpeace on several fundamental 
points." 
Cargill said it agreed that the Amazon, "one of the last 
significant rainforest reserves in the world, is 
internationally significant because of the biodiversity it 
supports as well as the role it plays in contributing to the 
stability of our global climate. The integrity of this complex 
ecosystem needs to be preserved." 
The company agreed with Greenpeace that, "The rights of small 
landholders should be protected, and government-designated 
indigenous reserves and protected areas should be protected 
from illegal encroachment. Farmers should comply with 
Brazilian environmental law, which is among the most rigorous 
in the world. 
Also the company agreed that, "Some of the poorest and most 
vulnerable people in Brazil are being victimized by abusive or 
degrading labor practices, especially in remote areas of the 
Amazon. These illegal practices must be eradicated." 
But the company said it was "in fundamental disagreement on 
the best way forward in several key areas." 
Greenpeace demanded that Cargill close its export facility at 
the Port of Santarem and about a dozen grain storage 
facilities in the transition zone between the grasslands of 
the Cerrado and the Amazon biome in the state of Mato Grosso. 
"We do not believe it is necessary to take such extreme 
measures to preserve the integrity of the Amazon ecosystem," 
Cargill said. "Soy occupies less than 0.6 percent of the land 
in the Amazon biome today, and most of that soy is grown on 
the fringes of the Amazon biome in the transitional area 
between the Cerrado and the forest." 
"It's important to remember that the Amazon also is home to 
more than 23 million people," the company said. "It is one of 
the poorest regions in Brazil and the world, and there is a 
recognized need for responsible economic and social 
development. Economic development is the long-term solution to 
protecting both the Amazon's peoples and the environment: 
poverty does not do that." 
Soy occupies about 25,000 hectares - eight percent - of the 
open areas in the Santarem region, Cargill pointed out. 
"One of the historic challenges in this region has been 
compliance with Brazil's strict Forest Code," the company 
said. 
In the Santarem region, Cargill is working with the Nature 
Conservancy, an internationally recognized environmental 
organization, the Farmers Union of Santarem and the farmers 
who sell soy to the company's Santarem export facility to 
identify and implement best management practices for 
environmental stewardship, Cargill said last May. 
The Nature Conservancy is working to achieve responsible soy 
agriculture in the Amazon. 
In January 2005, Cargill presented a US$1 million gift to the 
Nature Conservancy to support "conservation and sustainable 
agriculture initiatives" in the Brazilian Amazon, in China and 
in the United States. 
"Since 1983, Cargill has funded a range of conservation 
initiatives with the Conservancy in North America," Warren 
Staley, chairman and CEO of Cargill said at the time. "This 
expanded, global relationship represents an entirely new level 
of our support and will enable us to help champion prudent 
conservation practices around the world that are simple, 
actionable and measurable." 
Cargill's grant, along with matching funding from the British 
government, is supporting Conservancy efforts in Brazil's 
Amazon region to increase awareness and use of agricultural 
best practices among soya producers and help promote 
sustainable economic development in a region that is 
experiencing rapid agricultural development. 
The Conservancy has been working with farmers, along with 
governmental and private sector agricultural partners, to 
encourage better management practices and conservation 
opportunities for critical habitat located on private lands. 
"The Conservancy has already met with 200 area producers in 
Brazil's Para state to explain this initiative and generate 
collective interest in the development of best practices," 
said Steve McCormick, president and CEO of The Nature 
Conservancy said at the time. "The Cargill partnership effort 
will help showcase compatible agriculture practices that 
balance socio-economic and ecological needs." 





 

---