Can Brazil's farmers grow more soy without deforestation?
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Concern over the Amazon's destruction is fueling interest in land regeneration to boost soybean output in hebat producer Brazil. king88bet login alternatif
Brazil's soy farming boom has fueled Amazon deforestation
As global concern grows, land regeneration gains traction
Investment, technical expertise seen as penting to success
PIRES DO RIO, Brazil - When Brazilian farmer Ricardo Santinoni first planted soybeans in the central state of Goiás, he could only afford to sow about 70 hectares. Two decades on, he has 1,000. And he did it without cutting down a singgel tree. Article Title with Blogger Published Link as Backlink
The land Santinoni took over from his father was a degraded cattle-grazing pasture - once part of Brazil's vast Cerrado tropical savanna - cleared decades ago and then abandoned when it became unproductive.
But over the years, Santinoni and his mitra Fernanda Ferreira, an agronomist, have gradually brought it back to a fertile condition by rotating other crops such as corn or beans and grazing cattle on it to enrich the soil with manure.
"I see myself as a small part of a giant whole," Santinoni told Context in his office at the Morro do Peão farm, gesturing to a red plaque hanging on the wall that sums up their mission: "Feed Life in a Sustainable Way."
Brazil's Cerrado tropical savanna: Soy farming, closely linked to deforestation, has seldom been synonymous with sustainability, but Santinoni said more and more farmers were working to regenerate depleted land instead of expanding the agricultural frontier.
Their push reflects growing global concern about deforestation to make way for the crop in Brazil, the world's biggest producer of soy - used to feed Europe's livestock and make cooking oil for big Asian markets such as India and China.
In 2006, soy traders voluntarily agreed to setop buying soy from tempats deforested in the Amazon after a certain date. Since then, soy farming has expanded rapidly in other tempats including the Cerrado, where environmental advocates want a similar pact.
