Environmental agencies claim that chicken farms, which are sold in supermarkets, restaurants and fast food chains in the UK, are directly responsible for the destruction of South American wildlife rich forests. A report issued by the Greenpeace Association (Greenpeace) confirms that vast areas of forests are ravaged annually in South America to grow soybeans, which are used to feed poultry in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. These lands currently in use are located in the world's most biodiverse savannah.
increasing of demands
The demand for chickens increases because of consumers, who switch from red meat to chicken and other poultry, and supermarkets and fast food chains increase sales through special offers on chickens. The UK imports more than three million tons per year of soybean feed from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, to feed birds, mostly chickens.
The report, entitled "British Food Behavior Increases the frequency of environmental and natural disasters," says that meeting Britain's annual demand for high-protein soybeans requires up to 1.4 million hectares of land, more than Northern Ireland.
Greenpeace is calling for giant restaurant chains to set targets to cut chicken meat production, by surveying 23 major supermarket, fast food and coffee chains in the UK about chicken sales and soy use. This survey revealed that some supermarkets are buying their soybeans from the major commodity stores, which have been fined for purchasing soybeans from areas that were deforested illegally in the Brazilian Serrado. UK supermarkets consume two-thirds of the country's soy imports - the vast majority being for chicken feed.
recognition
Tesco, the UK's leading breeder of chickens, has recognized a sixth of UK soy imports, 99% of which is used in animal feed.
Some of the leading supermarkets claim to support sustainable soybean production - or have a plan to move to other sources unrelated to deforestation - but this also means buying more soy to make up for their shortages. None of the companies surveyed confirmed that the soybeans that they used to feed chickens to produce meat had nothing to do with deforestation. "McDonald's, Kentucky, Fried Chicken, Burger King, Nando's, and Subway" refused to disclose meat sales or the use of soybeans altogether.
Market research conducted by Cantar showed that promotions of chicken legs in the supermarket more than doubled in the past year, and their prices were cut three times.
A report on sustainable soybeans last year revealed that only 2% of UK imports of soybeans come from areas not subject to deforestation. Greenpeace says that all the chicken raising companies that I have contacted have not been able to track the amount of soybeans they imported or their origin. Although the Amazon is protected from expansion of soy production through a ban implemented in 2006, some farmers still exploit other areas with vital ecosystems, such as Serrado and Gran Chaco, the second largest forest in South America.
statement
A statement called "Cerrado Manvesto", drafted in 2017, calls on companies to make a voluntary pledge to prevent further deforestation. Livestock is also considered one of the main reasons for deforestation, but most of the Brazilian beef is consumed inside the country, which makes limiting soy cultivation "a more important element in efforts to reduce deforestation in many countries."
"It is clear that most consumers want to switch to white meat, because they think they are doing the right thing and for good reasons, but supermarkets and fast food restaurants do not explain to them that this shift," says Kiara Vitaly, forestry activist at Greenpeace, UK. "It can damage high-value forests that are destroyed." "The direct shift from beef to chicken consumption actually helps increase emissions from the UK to South America due to soy farming," she says. She believes that the world cannot continue to consume industrially produced meat at current levels. The analysis, carried out by the European Charity Foundation, indicates that soybeans cause more forest losses than palm oil. "Retailers are working together to tackle the problem of deforestation and help increase sustainable soy consumption that has been approved by the federation's supply chains," says Lea Riley Brown, a member of the British Retail Association. The British Retail Association has publicly called on the Brazilian government to stop deforestation of the Amazonian soybean forests, and is working with other stakeholders to ensure that soy imports from other sustainable sources are met.
Stop deforestation
A spokesman for Tesco said, "We agree with Greenpeace that more needs to be done to stop deforestation associated with food production." This is why by 2025 we will import all soy that we use as animal feed from areas where there is no deforestation, and we are leading efforts to develop a fund to finance soy farmers according to the Cerrado initiative, which helps protect biodiversity and prevent the use of new land for soy production. .
McDonald's says it aims to reduce deforestation through supply chains by 2030. “We prioritize by the end of 2020 to examine the raw materials that our suppliers purchase in large quantities, and we will have great interest in beef and chicken imports (fed from beans) Soybeans), palm oil, coffee and packaging fibers. McDonald's also says it is committed to seeking other sources of soybeans to feed chickens if these sources do not contribute to deforestation. In 2018, McDonald's covered nearly 74% of its soybean needs for feeding chickens from Europe. "In 2017, we became one of the first companies to sign the Cerrado Manifesto," says the company spokesman.
A spokesperson for "Nando's" says: "We are proud that for four years we have been importing all kinds of soybeans according to established standards, and we are always striving to do more." In 2017, we joined over 60 companies to sign the Cerrado Manifesto Statement, and we are proud to be an active member of the UK Round Table on Soybeans. ”
A spokeswoman for "Burger King" confirmed that most of the company’s chicken origin is from the United Kingdom and Europe, and only a few are from Brazil. “However, we require suppliers to confirm that the poultry and feed that they have been fed do not belong to the rainforest land. We are constantly working with our suppliers to review their systems to ensure such measures. ”
The British Retail Association has publicly called on the Brazilian government to stop deforesting the Amazon jungle to produce soybeans.
Market research conducted by Kantar showed that promotions of chicken thighs in the supermarket more than doubled in the past year, and their prices were tripled.
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Millions of tons per year imported by Britain from soybeans from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
Half of McDonald's chicken meals from Amazon jungle
The world's largest private company, the US agricultural business giant Cargill, has built a port and 13 soy storage companies in the Amazon. This company provides farmers with seeds and agricultural chemicals, to produce hundreds of thousands of tons of soybeans annually, which the company then exports to Liverpool and other European ports, mostly from Santarem, the city on the Amazon River.
From Liverpool, a large portion of the high-protein soybeans goes to Herefield-based Sun Valley, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cargill's Raising Chicken. The company provides McDonald's up to 50% of all chicken it provides to its customers in Britain and throughout Europe.
According to the latest reports, farmers take over public lands belonging to the indigenous people, using bulldozers, and making use of the locals to grow land with soy. Last year, more than 25,000 square kilometers of Amazon jungle was mostly removed from soybeans.
Just five years ago, much of the land surrounding Santarem was dense forest. But when Cargill announced plans to build a soy grain silo, an airport worth $ 20 million and its port, this had a major impact on forests in the region, as satellite imagery shows that within two years, deforestation rates doubled to 28,000 hectares per year, and rose Land prices, soybeans rose as farmers from all over Brazil arrived to take advantage of these guaranteed markets.
Much of the soybean is transported by truck to the Cargill Silos in Santarem, and then shipped to feed the Sun Valley chicken farms, which it then sells to McDonald's.
Because of the expansion of soybean cultivation, the Amazon jungle has experienced an unprecedented wave of clearance. Up to 34,000 tons of soybeans are produced annually by growing 14,000 hectares in the Santarem and Peltera regions. To the south, Mato Grosso has become the largest state of soybean production in Brazil, and one of the largest areas subjected to deforestation. Cargill does not hide its aid to soy farmers in the Amazon states, as it has developed large soy farms and provided them with infrastructure.
Translation - Awad Khairy for "The Guardian"
Indirect harms of soybean cultivation
Climate change and deforestation are not the only problems that soybeans grow, but the problem is also spraying fields with massive amounts of pesticides. Since the early 1990s, the use of pesticides has increased by more than 170% in both Argentina and Brazil. These chemicals remove plants and kill types of insects that are not harmful to agriculture, pollute the water supply, and cause health problems for agricultural workers.