Soy Cultivation in Brazil

Soy Cultivation in Brazil has rapidly displaced the cultivation of other crops, pasture-based cattle ranching, and untouched virgin forests, grasslands, and other ecosystems in Brazil. Most of the soy grown is GE soy. Much of it is then exported to China and Europe.

In 2008, five of the world's top 10 soybean producers were in South America: Brazil (2), Argentina (3), Paraguay (6), Bolivia (8), and Uruguay (9). For more information, see the article on Soy Cultivation in South America.

The World Bank's View

The World Bank said the following in a 2010 report:

"A second process was the expansion of soybeans and other crops in the cerrado (savanna) region of Brazil, based on public investment in research and development (R&D) that allowed cultivation of acid soils previously unsuitable for agriculture, use of appropriate varieties, and adoption of conservation tillage. While this was a major technological success, direct impacts on rural poverty were reduced because capital subsidies encouraged more highly mechanized forms of cultivation. Public and private sector players in Brazil and neighboring countries now recognize that agricultural investment and expansion pose serious environmental challenges and that action will be needed to reduce detrimental impacts. These actions include rehabilitation of degraded lands, stricter enforcement and monitoring of “legal reserves” (minimum levels of forested areas on agricultural properties), better delineation of protected areas, and environmental zoning."

Expansion of Soybean Cultivation

As you can see below, the recent expansion in soy cultivated began in the early 2000s. Between 2000 and 2009, the area Brazil harvested of soybeans increased by 60%. During the same period, the amount of soybeans produced increased by 74%. All data in this section comes from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's FAOSTAT database.

Year: Area Harvested (ha)

• 1970: 1,318,809
• 1975: 5,824,492
• 1980: 8,774,023
• 1985: 10,153,405
• 1990: 11,487,300
• 1995: 11,675,000
• 2000: 13,640,026
• 2001: 13,974,300
• 2002: 16,365,400
• 2003: 18,524,769
• 2004: 21,538,990
• 2005: 22,948,874
• 2006: 22,047,349
• 2007: 20,565,300
• 2008: 21,057,302
• 2009: 21,760,208

Year: Soybean Production (tonnes)

• 1970: 1,508,540
• 1975: 9,893,008
• 1980: 15,155,804
• 1985: 18,278,592
• 1990: 19,897,804
• 1995: 25,682,636
• 2000: 32,734,958
• 2001: 39,058,000 (unofficial figure)
• 2002: 42,769,000 (unofficial figure)
• 2003: 51,919,440
• 2004: 49,549,941
• 2005: 51,182,074
• 2006: 52,464,640
• 2007: 57,857,200
• 2008: 59,242,480
• 2009: 56,960,732

Soybean Exports

All data in this section comes from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's FAOSTAT database. Since at least 1990, Brazil has been the world's second largest exporter of soybeans. (The United States is first.) In 2008, Brazil exported 41% of its total soybean crop as unprocessed soybeans. That year, soybeans were Brazil's largest export(24,499,500 tonnes).

Continuing with the example of 2008, soybeans cake was Brazil's third largest export (12,287,900 tonnes) and soybean oil was its seventh largest export (2,315,840 tonnes). Assuming that each tonne of crushed soybeans yields 0.8 tonnes of soybean cake and 0.183 tonnes of soybean oil, Brazil exported about a quarter of its soybeans in the forms of soybean cake and oil.

Year: Soybean exports

• 1961: 73,270 tonnes
• 1970: 289,623 tonnes
• 1980: 1,548,880 tonnes
• 1990: 4,076,800 tonnes
• 1995: 3,492,530 tonnes
• 2000: 11,517,300 tonnes
• 2001: 15,675,500 tonnes
• 2002: 15,970,000 tonnes
• 2003: 19,890,500 tonnes
• 2004: 19,247,700 tonnes
• 2005: 22,435,100 tonnes
• 2006: 24,958,000 tonnes
• 2007: 23,733,800 tonnes
• 2008: 24,499,500 tonnes

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