WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) have urged the CEOs of two large agricultural trading companies, Bunge Ltd. and Cargill, Inc., to take action in response to reports that their soy purchasing policies have contributed to the widespread destruction of tropical forests and other native ecosystems across South America. Noting Bunge and Cargill’s successful past efforts to stop deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, the Senators pressed the corporations’ leaders to adopt similar sustainable purchasing practices across the rest of Latin America.

The Senators wrote, “Approximately 10 million acres of forests in South America were destroyed every year from 2001 to 2010. Conserving these landscapes from further destruction is critical to protecting threatened wildlife and also vital to solving climate change – it is estimated that as much as one-third of the solution to global warming needs to come from tropical forest conservation. As two of the largest soy producers in the world, it is critical that Bunge and Cargill do more to protect forests and indigenous communities impacted by its purchasing policies. Fortunately, as Bunge and Cargill have shown in the past, it is possible to conserve forests and grasslands while still dramatically increasing agricultural production.”

Booker and Merkley are both members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

The full text of the letter can be viewed below.

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March 13, 2017

Mr. Soren Schroder                                     Mr. David MacLennan
Chief Executive Officer                              Chief Executive Officer
Bunge Limited                                               Cargill, Incorporated
50 Main Street                                               PO Box 9300
White Plains, NY 10606                             Minneapolis, MN 55440 

Dear Mr. Schroder and Mr. MacLennan,

We are writing to express our serious concern about the destruction of tropical forests and other native ecosystems to produce soy-based animal feed that enters global supply chains. We were deeply disappointed to read investigative reports recently published in The New York Times regarding American businesses, including Bunge and Cargill, continuing to drive deforestation and failing to extend the soy moratorium beyond the Brazilian Amazon.

Approximately 10 million acres of forests in South America were destroyed every year from 2001 to 2010. Conserving these landscapes from further destruction is critical to protecting threatened wildlife and also vital to solving climate change – it is estimated that as much as one-third of the solution to global warming needs to come from tropical forest conservation.

As two of the largest soy producers in the world, it is critical that Bunge and Cargill do more to protect forests and indigenous communities impacted by its purchasing policies. Fortunately, as Bunge and Cargill have shown in the past, it is possible to conserve forests and grasslands while still dramatically increasing agricultural production. 

For more than a decade, the Amazon soy moratorium that Bunge and Cargill helped create has effectively eliminated deforestation for soy in the Brazilian Amazon while continuing to allow for agricultural growth. Soy producers have been able to take advantage of plentiful degraded land to expand soy production in the Brazilian Amazon without deforestation.

There is great urgency to replicate this success across Latin America and beyond. As the recent investigations showed, the conversion of native forests and grasslands has continued in other regions of Brazil, as well as in Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and elsewhere. You have the opportunity to help shift Latin America towards sustainable production and economic growth by focusing new production on the continent’s approximately 500 million acres of degraded lands.

We have heard from people across the country who want to know where their food comes from and that it is being produced in a manner consistent with their values – meaning that it does not contribute to the destruction of native ecosystems or take an outsized toll on the climate.

We must ensure that the United States, and American businesses, are acting in a responsible way in Latin America and around the world. We ask that you move immediately to extend the soy moratorium to the rest of Latin America, and support sustainable agriculture more broadly. 

We stand ready to help you achieve this goal in whatever way we can. We invite you to come and meet with us in Washington, or participate in a phone call at your earliest convenience.  

Sincerely,

Cory A. Booker
United States Senator 

Jeff Merkley
United States Senator