Danish feed giant BioMar said the surge in forest fires in the Amazon have stressed the urgency for the company to reach 100-percent certified soy as fast as possible.

The comments come as Mowi, the world's biggest salmon producer, threatens to stop buying Brazilian soy for its fish farms unless the South American country curbs Amazon deforestation and as rival feed producers Skretting and Cargill raise concerns with suppliers over the sourcing of Brazilian soy.

Biomar said it is on track to sourcing 100-percent certified soy by 2020, having reached 92 percent in 2018.

Company officials went to Brazil on a fact-finding mission with soy suppliers in Sorriso, Mato Grosso in March and April this year.

They concluded BioMar’s soy suppliers are far ahead of the pack in all areas of responsible soy production because of "robust sustainability platforms" and ProTerra certification.

Loopholes

At the same time, the company said the importance of industry-led initiatives has become even more pressing considering current events in Brazil, where despite an impressive legal framework, implementation of key legislation is hampered by the sheer size of the country, unstable political climate, and the lack of resources in key areas.

Through its recent involvement in the capacity building project “Responsible Sourcing of Soy, Cattle, and Palm Oil,” run by NEPCon and SEGES and funded by DANIDA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Biomar said it became apparent that indirect conversion of Amazon rainforest lands for soy production still existed through loopholes

One such loophole involves slash and burn forest clearing for land sold to cattle ranchers for new pasture. Once grazed beyond productive capacity, these lands are sold to soy farmers, making soy indirectly responsible for deforestation.

At the same time Biomar cites recent estimates by the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental suggest that cattle ranching is responsible for around 80 percent of Amazon deforestation.

Hard to combat

Many of the more than 40,000 fires ravaging the Amazon this year are blamed on deliberate actions as people use the dry-season, to illegally clear forest for cattle and crops with fire.

This cheap and effective method of deforestation is hard to combat, and frequently irreversibly damaging to indigenous people and the region's unique wildlife.

A recent report commissioned by the IUCN Netherlands found that RTRS and ProTerra are two of the only legitimate sources of deforestation-free soy products in South America. Both standards have robust provisions against any kind of land conversion of native forests occurring after 2008 (ProTerra) and 2009 (RTRS).

Against this background BioMar’s soy suppliers have voluntarily pledged that their certified soy cannot be grown on deforested Amazon properties, even if the “conversion” is a result of forest fires.

"In this debate, it is important to point out that Brazil is in a state of rapid development and has made significant commitments to sustainable soy," Biomar CEO Carlos Diaz said.

"In 2017, out of 338 million tons of soybeans on the global market, only 5.1 million tons of non-GM, certified soy was available for purchase, or 1.5 percent by volume. Brazil accounted for 78 percent of this 'gold standard' soy."

Unanswered questions

The number of wildfires ravaging Brazil's rainforest have doubled this year while environmental protections have been cut back, leading to international condemnation of Brazil's government, led by far right President Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro, a close ally of Brazil's agribusiness sector, was previously accused of implicitly backing the clearing of land through the use of fire by cattle ranchers, loggers and others. At one stage, the Brazilian leader accused NGOs of starting the fires.

He has since pledged zero tolerance for environmental crimes, ordering thousands of soldiers to tackle the fires but has so far refused an offer of $20 million (€18 million) from the G7 countries following criticism of his environmental record by French President Emmanuel Macron.

On Thursday the Brazilian government outlawed the starting of forest fires for 60 days except on phytosanitary grounds, where it is necessary to combat and prevent fires spreading and in subsistence agriculture, involving indigenous populations.

Bolsonaro's administration has also accepted a donation of £10 million (€11 million/$12.2 million) from the UK government to help tackles the fires.

In an earlier statement, Aprosoja, the trade body representing Brazil's soy farmers, condemned illegal deforestation and "any form of native vegetation suppression that is not legally authorized, pointing out that farmers are the main victims of these crimes as they have their properties, crops and preservation areas under their responsibility threatened by the flames.

But Aprosoja has so far not responded to IntraFish's questions on what concrete measures the soy industry itself is taking to guarantee that soy is not planted on land cleared by deliberate forest fires and on its reaction to Mowi's threat to source soy elsewhere.

Aquaculture

Biomar: Amazon fires underscore importance of fully certified soy in aquaculture feed