Soy deforestation is rising at an “alarming” rate, as a new report shows UK companies could be exposed to illegal practices ahead of a crucial regulatory crackdown.
Soy-driven deforestation and conversion of native vegetation in Brazil has been increasing since 2020, according to exclusive new data seen by The Grocer showing a massive spike over recent years.
Production of the commodity in the South American country was responsible for the deforestation of around 160,000 hectares in 2023, compared to around 40,000 hectares in 2020, according to evidence from Satelligence, the geospatial monitoring company working with some of the world’s largest commodity traders – including Cargill, Nestlé, Unilever, Bunge and Olam – as they prepare for anti-deforestation laws rolling out in the UK and the EU.
Satelligence monitors the bulk of the globe’s palm oil, cocoa, coffee, soy and other deforestation-risk commodities for most of the leading food and beverage companies in the world.
And while its geospatial models showed only a small percentage of soy last year (1.5%) was grown on land that was deforested after the 2020 cut-off of the EU’s flagship anti-deforestation law, Satelligence said 6% of farms were still non-compliant with the upcoming laws, and that the overall growth in soy production “should be monitored as the percentage of non-compliant plots could increase if the trend continues”.
The EU’s deforestation regulation (EUDR) was originally meant to come into effect at the end of this year, but the EU Commission has now proposed plans to push it back by 12 months.
Businesses in the UK face a similar crackdown from government, which is set to approve regulation to slash deforestation across supply chains of goods such as soy, palm oil, and cocoa.
But a recent exposé by environmental campaigners Mighty Earth claimed sectors like poultry risked being exposed to law breaches after revealing a link between Cargill-driven deforestation in Brazil to factory-farmed chicken in the UK.
Read more: The deforestation regulation clock is ticking for food and drink
The UK’s upcoming forest-risk commodities regulation, announced by the Conservative government last year and set to be backed by Labour ministers, will set out clear rules against businesses importing soy from deforested areas, including soy used as feed in the meat sector.
Mighty Earth alleges to have “joined the dots for the first time between Cargill and Moy Park”, the Northern Ireland-based poultry meat producer owned by JBS’s subsidiary Pilgrim’s Europe.
The group’s investigation, in collaboration with AGtivist, tracked seven cases of alleged deforestation in the Cerrado region in Brazil, where Cargill has vast operations, and directly linked it to UK soy imports.
These cases “represented 11,827 hectares of deforestation between April 2022 and September 2023, with more than half (6,441 hectares) occurring within the farms’ Areas of Permanent Protection (APP) or legal reserve, i.e. illegal deforestation”, according to Mighty Earth.
Moy Park’s UK customers include major supermarkets such as Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose, as well as fast food retailers including KFC, McDonald’s and Nando’s.
Some of Tesco’s own-label products such as breaded chicken goujons and garlic & herb chicken kievs are also manufactured by Moy Park.
Both Moy Park and the UK retailers pledged to be 100% deforestation and conversion-free by 2025 via industry-led initiatives such as the Retail Soy Group and the UK Soy Manifesto.
“New links between their poultry supplier, Moy Park, and Cargill’s imported deforestation-contaminated Brazilian soy highlight yet again the progress required for supermarkets and fast food giants to meet 2025 DCF commitments,” the Mighty Earth report highlighted.
“Many of these companies already missed their 2020 deadline to eliminate deforestation; whereas previously this exposed them only to reputational risk, with the EUDR and soon the UKFRC, they risk legal and economic consequences.”
Mighty Earth’s UK senior director Gemma Hoskins said: “Cargill’s murky operations and lack of traceability means companies across the UK chicken sector risk falling foul of upcoming UK deforestation legislation designed to clean up commodity supply chains, and of missing 2025 zero-deforestation targets.
“Supermarkets and fast food chains from Tesco to McDonald’s rely on suppliers like Moy Park to ensure the chicken it sells them is not fed on soy grown on illegally deforested land in Brazil, particularly in vulnerable landscapes like the Cerrado.”
Read more: UK supermarkets urge Defra to green-light deforestation law
Cargill said in response to the report that it “took all allegations seriously and investigates them in accordance with our soy grievance process”.
“Cargill does not do business with two of the identified farms. We investigated the farms we do conduct business with, and no violations were found.
“We have robust procedures to ensure we are respecting social and environmental restrictions – slave labour, soy moratorium, Green Grain Protocol, and embargoes (from federal and state agencies) – as well as respecting regulated indigenous areas, from which we do not source grains.
“At Cargill, we are working to protect vital ecosystems in South America and are committed to treating people with dignity and respect in the workplace and communities where we do business, and no violations were found.”
A Moy Park statement read: “The sustainable sourcing of soy is a critical global food industry issue that we are committed to tackling proactively. We keep in close contact with all soy suppliers to comply with upcoming regulation and our commitments.
“As members of the UK Roundtable for Responsible Soy, signatories of the Cerrado Manifesto Statement and active members of the UK Soy Manifesto, we continue to collaborate with industry on solutions to ensure all deforestation-risk commodities are verified deforestation and conversion-free by the end of 2025.”
Hoskins added it was “imperative that the UK government acts with urgency to bring Cargill to heel by ensuring that transparent and public reporting is enshrined in law so we’re not dining on deforestation”.
Defra secretary Steve Reed must ”provide certainty for UK businesses by urgently prioritising the delivery of robust secondary legislation”, Mighty Earth said, to “help ensure the UK can meet its deforestation commitments”.
How activists tracked Cargill and Moy Park’s links
“In April 2024, investigators tracked trucks from Cargill’s soy crusher terminal at the Seaforth dock in Liverpool port to Moy Park feed mills in Navenby, Lincolnshire, and Ashbourne, Derbyshire. These mills supply soy-based animal feed to Moy Park’s extensive web of contract farms rearing poultry for the firm nationally.
Cargill owns storage facilities at sites S2 and G3 at Seaford dock, alongside the UK’s second-largest Brazilian soy importer, ADM. Each site has an entrance and exit for hauliers collecting grain from these known Cargill sites in the Seaforth dock. Fieldwork suggested that lorries accessing the S2 and G3 facilities enter the dock via Strand Road Gate, and exit via Seaforth Gate.
Investigators documented hauliers leaving the associated Cargill exits, recorded licence plates and time stamps of entry and exit, and followed two trucks en route to Moy Park’s Ashbourne Mill in Derbyshire. In addition, investigators witnessed a Moy Park lorry exiting the Seaforth Gate and entering Moy Park’s Ashbourne Mill the same day. Investigators also documented a T&J Haulage-branded lorry entering Strand Road Gate and leaving Seaforth Gate; this lorry entered Moy Park’s Ashbourne Mill later the same day.
Our investigations also documented field evidence of hauliers entering and exiting both Moy Park feed mill sites at Navenby, Lincolnshire, as well as Ashbourne, Derbyshire; they identified a variety of contract haulage companies working with Moy Park, as well as Moy Park-branded fleets. From these feed mills, Moy Park distributes soy-based animal feed to more than 800 chicken farms across the UK.
This investigation confirms, for the first time, the link between Moy Park and Cargill.
In our report we identify seven cases of recent illegal deforestation in Brazil tied to Cargill in four municipalities linked to the UK soy supply. These cases represent 11,827 hectares of deforestation between April 2022 and September 2023, with more than half (6,441 hectares) occurring within in the farms’ Areas of Permanent Protection (APP) or legal reserve, an indicator of illegality.”
Source: Mighty Earth’s ‘Foul Play’ report
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