Population, territory and sustainable development

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Box IV.5
IMPACTS OF SOYBEAN PRODUCTION IN FIVE COUNTRIES OF THE REGION
Five South American countries —Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, the Plurinational State of Bolivia and Uruguay— are
among the world’s 10 largest soybean producers. Driving the expansion of soybean production in these countries
was the “green revolution”, with intensive use of machinery and chemical products; however, the availability of land
that lent itself to these techniques, suitable climatic and environmental conditions and relatively low production
costs were also important factors.
In Brazil, soybean has been cultivated since the early twentieth century, when seeds were introduced from
Asia, mainly into the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and investments were made in adapting the crop to the local
climate. Production later expanded to lower latitudes and more acidic soils, such as the Brazilian Cerrado,
particularly the state of Mato Grosso which, within 20 years, became the country’s largest soybean-producing state.
Argentina began to grow soybean more recently, but the crop has expanded very rapidly there. Until the
1970s Argentina was not among the 20 largest soybean producers, but became the fourth largest producer within 10
years and the third largest by the first decade of the twenty-first century. Expansion of soybean production in
Argentina has been dubbed “agriculturization” because it has led to changes in the way agricultural land is used in
order to boost export crops yields (by using input technologies and concentrating production resources), which has
worsened environmental degradation and heightened the social exclusion of smaller farmers.
The situation is quite similar in Paraguay, where recent estimates suggest that 2.6 million hectares are
currently under cultivation and that production will continue to rise. And, like in the past, much of Paraguay’s
soybean harvest goes to Argentina for processing. Uruguay too has increased both production and the area under
cultivation, with soybean fields lying adjacent to the Uruguay River and new growing areas in other parts of the
country. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia production is expected to hold steady or rise slightly, although there are
a number of issues affecting production, including fuel distribution problems.
The context for soybean production in South America has become more complex in the past few years since, as
well as traditional uses for the grain, there is now interest in using it as raw material in the production of biodiesel, and this
has broadened and sharpened social and environmental controversies. In Argentina, for example, the expansion of
agriculture driven by technological change and the combination of production activities has caused or at least facilitated
sociodemographic shifts. Three main changes have arisen from the use of process technology: (i) less labour is needed for
agricultural work, (ii) local rural exodus, caused by technological changes and indebtedness of small farms, has increased
the massed rural population and decreased the dispersed rural population, and (iii) pampas towns have spread at the
expense of high-quality agricultural land. This carries a some risk for the population, given the total surface area sown and
the areas used by settlements, since once soybean production has taken up almost all the available space competition arises
over land use, and chemicals are used in close proximity to residential areas.
In the past few years civil society has begun to react more strongly or more frequently to the social,
economic and environmental impacts of soybean production in all the countries in the region that grow it. Rural
disturbances over soybean production have escalated in Paraguay, with protests and conflicts over access to land and
the impacts of agro-chemicals. Tensions are rising in Argentina and Brazil and beginning to appear in Uruguay over
the displacement of small farmers. Soybean is thus increasingly associated with rural conflict. The effects of
intensive use of chemicals in soybean production can be harmful for the workers who handle the crop and leads to
the build-up of pollutants in the environment (mainly water and soil) and in human tissue. These impacts are
observable only in the medium and long terms, although studies indicate that various types of cancer and lung
conditions are on the rise. From a land-use perspective, soybean may continue to encroach into livestock-rearing
areas. Argentina has large reserves in land in the northern part, but expansion of the crop could cause or worsen
social conflicts with groups of small farmers and long-time residents who lack legal title over the land. It could also
cause environmental conflict over deforestation, even though there are no land regulations relating specifically to the
conditions under which forest areas may be cleared for agriculture, or to the extent of clearing allowed.
Source: R. Do Carmo and M. Franci Alvarez, “Expansión del cultivo de soja, salud y medio ambiente. Situación en Córdoba
(Argentina) y Mato Grosso (Brasil)”, Población y medio ambiente en Latinoamérica y el Caribe: Cuestiones recientes
y desafíos para el futuro, Roberto Luiz do Carmo and Gilberto Javier Cabrera Trimiño (orgs.), serie Investigaciones,
No. 6, Rio de Janeiro, ALAP Editor, 2009, E. Gudynas, La soja en el 2008. Perspectivas bajo nuevos contextos
productivos, sociales y ambientales, Observatorio en agropecuaria y sustentabilidad (OAS), 2007, and Carlos Reboratti,
“Un mar de soja: La nueva agricultura en Argentina y sus consecuencias”, Revista de geografía, Norte Grande, No. 45,
Santiago, Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, May 2010, pp. 63-76.