The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands European soy based factory farming Impacts in South America & the EU and possible solutions

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Mostly on factory farms with no land Low prices for farmers Focus on cost reduction> increasing scale, low animal welfare, fast growing animals Animal feed with high protein content >soy Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands European soy based factory farming

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Highest protein content Very cheap because: costs of social and environmental impacts not internalised no import tariffs Low transportation costs Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands Why soy?

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket The soybean is an annual legume which contains 18% oil, 38% protein and 25% carbohydrates. What is soy? Source figure & photo: website 4 & 5 * What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket This presentation will deal with the following topics: -The main impacts of large scale soy monocultures in South America -Basic figures of soy consumption in the EU -Some impacts of soy based industrial livestock production in the EU -Solutions? What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket What do you think of when you hear the word ‘soy’? Do you think of.. Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Do you think of.. Photo © CPT forced eviction Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Do you think of.. Photo © Brent Millikan forced eviction deforestation What do you think of when you hear the word ‘soy’? Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Do you think of.. Source figure 1: website 1 * forced eviction deforestation slavery What do you think of when you hear the word ‘soy’? Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Do you think of.. Photo © Environmental Commons forced eviction deforestation slavery genetic manipulation What do you think of when you hear the word ‘soy’? Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Do you think of.. Photo © Ulrike Bickel forced eviction deforestation slavery genetic manipulation pollution What do you think of when you hear the word ‘soy’?

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Do you think of.. Photo © AIDEnvironment forced eviction deforestation slavery genetic manipulation pollution erosion What do you think of when you hear the word ‘soy’? Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Do you think of.. Photo © AIDEnvironment forced eviction deforestation slavery genetic manipulation pollution erosion unemployment What do you think of when you hear the word ‘soy’? Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Do you think of.. Source photo: website 2 * forced eviction deforestation slavery genetic manipulation pollution erosion unemployment hunger What do you think of when you hear the word ‘soy’? Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket The first step in the soy production process is obtaining land to grow soy on. The local farmers and indigenous peoples often do not have formal rights to the land they have been cultivating for generations and the forest in which they hunt and gather fruits. Forced eviction Source photo: video Het Groene Goud (The Green Gold) © Manfred van Eyk What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Source photo: website 2 * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Forced eviction Speculators and large landowners take advantage of this situation by evicting small farmers from their land in exchange for a very small fee (often less than 10$ per hectare). Threats and violence by hired assaultgroups aimed at forcing the local people to accept the small fee are common. Photo © CPT What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Source photo: website 2 * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Large amounts of agricultural land is needed to meet the growing need for soy. Therefore, a lot of forest and savannah is destroyed in South America. Deforestation Photos © AIDEnvironment & Brent Millikan This expansion is mostly made at the expense of the rich and diverse natural vegetation: rainforest and savannah (cerrado). What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Source photo: website 2 * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket The correntão-technique is often used for deforestation: Two enormous bulldozers pull a thick steel chain over the land between them. All vegetation is literally mowed down …and the consequences for the flora and fauna are disastrous. In this manner large areas of forest and savannah disappear … … to make room for soy for Europe and Asia. Videomaterial: Dahl TV (Keuringsdienst van Waarde) ‏ What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy?

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket When the bulldozers finish their work and have destroyed the forest …... they shove the remains together in oblong shaped heaps. These scrapheaps are then set on fire. In the Brazilian state Mato Grosso alone, illegal forest fires took place in Videomaterial: Greenpeace The destroyed vegetation that remains is either burned or made into charcoal. Soy originating from this illegally deforested land also ends up in the Dutch market. What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy?

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket The combination of large scale deforestation, erosion and pollution makes restoring the original flora and fauna on the desolated soy fields a very slow – if not impossible – process. The soil is exhausted and polluted the local climate is dryer and warmer the soil can not hold on to water and there are virtually no insects and birds to spread the few seeds over the land. Videomaterial: Manfred van Eyk What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy?

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Where large scale soy production is introduced, employment rates drop drastically. Whereas traditional agriculture requires 40 workers per 200 hectares, soy production requires only one worker per 200 hectares because of the far- reaching mechani- sation. Unemployment The one worker per 200 hectare is often an external employee because the local workers are mostly uneducated former farmers. Videomaterial: © AIDEnvironment What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy?

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Because of the loss of farm land and access to forest or savannah, local people have less possibilities to grow their own food. Possibilities for hunting and fishing are also declining. Consequently, available food becomes less diverse and an increasing number of people go hungry. Hunger Source photo: video Het Groene Goud (The Green Gold) © Manfred van Eyk What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Source photo: website 2 * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Source photo: website 11 * No land, no work, but hunger … Driven by hunger and in search of a job, many small farmers move to big cities, where they end up in slums. What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy?

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket In 2005 the EU imported 37 million tons of soy This is equivalent to a 15,000 km lineup of trucks loaded with soy. Photos © AIDEnvironment What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket This soy mainly originates from South America: Source photo: website 6a * 56% from Brazil; 33% from Argentinia; 6% from the US; 3% from Paraguay and Bolivia; 2% from other countries. What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket – 87% is soybean meal - 23% of global soymeal consumption Source photo: website 6a * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Source photo: website 6a * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Source photo: website 6a * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands – 6 NW-European countries account for almost 50% of consumption – Denmark (340), Netherlands (221) and Belgium (120) have highest kg per capita consumption.

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Soy and the problems of intensive livestock production Photo © Milieudefensie Cheap soy is the quiet driving force behind intensive livestock production; Soy contains many proteins which make animals grow quickly: … for example from egg to 2,5 kilo slaughter weight in 6 weeks; What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? No intensive livestock production without cheap animal feed! Source photo: website 2 * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket The hidden costs of ‘cut-price meat’: Livestock production annually produces 67 billion kilo of manure, which causes severe pollution of soil, air and water; Photos © Michiel Wijnberg & Milieudefensie What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Soy and the problems of intensive livestock production Source photo: website 2 * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket The hidden costs of ‘cut-price meat’: Livestock production annually produces 67 billion kilo of manure, which causes severe pollution of soil, air and water; Animal diseases cost the government billions of euros; Photo © Hollandse Hoogte What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Soy and the problems of intensive livestock production Source photo: website 2 * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket The hidden costs of ‘cut-price meat’: Livestock production annually produces 67 billion kilo of manure, which causes severe pollution of soil, air and water; Animal diseases cost the government billions of euros; Annually at least 1,75 billion euro of costs are transferred to society; Photo © Hollandse Hoogte What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Soy and the problems of intensive livestock production Source photo: website 2 * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket The hidden costs of ‘cut-price meat’: Livestock production annually produces 67 billion kilo of manure, which causes severe pollution of soil, air and water; Animal diseases cost the government billions of euros; Annually at least 1,75 billion euro of costs are transferred to society; Loss of biodiversity, odour nuisance, climate change, subsidies, government subsidised reorganisation, etc. are not included here. What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Soy and the problems of intensive livestock production Source photo: website 2 * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Soy and the problems of intensive livestock production “We import animal feed, export pigs and keep the mess here. That system stuck”. Cees Veerman, Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food quality What is soy? The soy chain Impacts soy production From import to export Via industry to consumer Sustainable soy? Source photo: website 2 * Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands

The Dutch Soy Coalition The Soy Chain: From Field to Supermarket Reduce consumption of animal products in Northern countries Substitute soy in European animal feed with locally grown protein crops; No EU subsidies or incentives for the use of soy bean oil as biofuel; Sustainable soy??? Milieudefensie - Friends of the Earth Netherlands Solutions?