A recent investigation has uncovered new significant links between Brazil’s top meatpackers — JBS, Marfrig and Minerva — and widespread environmental destruction in the Pantanal wetlands, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Cerrado savanna.
The investigation, part of Mighty Earth’s Rapid Response deforestation monitoring program in partnership with Brazilian news outlet Repórter Brasil and sustainability NGO AidEnvironment, revealed that from October 2023 to February 2024, a total of 4,651 hectares (11,493 acres) were deforested and converted on five cattle farms in the Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal biomes. These ranches reportedly supply Brazil’s largest meatpackers, which, in turn, provide beef products to major retailers such as Carrefour, Casino/GPA, Grupo Mateus and Sendas/Assaí. Notably, 86% of this destruction took place in the Pantanal.
At the heart of these findings is Fazenda Soberana, a ranch in the state of Mato Grosso owned by Claudecy Oliveira Lemes. It accounts for 74% of the total deforestation recorded on the five ranches. Lemes is currently under investigation for using the herbicide 2,4-D, a key ingredient in Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War, to destroy 81,200 hectares (200,650 acres) of native vegetation in the Pantanal — an area four times the size of Amsterdam.
“[The herbicide] is spread by planes, so it has a great power of spreading all over the area,” Mariana Gameiro, senior adviser at Mighty Earth and co-author of the report, told Mongabay. “It’s highly toxic. It not only kills the trees but it also pollutes watersheds, destroying biodiversity and impacting the health of local communities.”
Prosecutors have called it “chemical deforestation,” marking it as the largest environmental crime ever recorded in the state. The case highlights the lengths some cattle ranchers take to expand operations and meet demand for beef both nationally and abroad.
“[It] is a devastating new war on nature, being waged by the beef industry,” João Gonçalves, the senior director for Brazil at Mighty Earth, said in an official statement.
This destruction comes at a time when the Pantanal faces severe fire outbreaks, fueled by drought, climate change and criminals. Fires, often deliberately set to clear land for cattle ranching, surged by an unprecedented 3,910% in August, according to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). Environment Minister Marina Silva warned that the Pantanal could disappear by the end of the century.
“The Pantanal cannot withstand both fires and rampant chemical deforestation,” Gonçalves said.
Widespread environmental crimes
An examination of 1,641 beef products in 120 stores in 52 cities across Brazil between October 2023 and February 2024 revealed a direct link between major retailers like Carrefour and Casino/GPA and meatpackers to farms associated with deforestation. Through the Do Pasto ao Prato (From Pasture to Plate) mobile app, which allows the user to identify the origin of meat products, the investigation traced beef items in retail stores back to 157 slaughterhouses in 21 Brazilian states, 45 of which are located in the Amazon region.
Notably, 36 of these slaughterhouses — 27 owned by JBS, four by Marfrig and five by Minerva — were found to be linked to the deforestation of 181,167 hectares (447,673 acres) through direct suppliers, with an additional 368,859 hectares (911,470 acres) linked to indirect suppliers, between 2009 and 2023 in the Amazon and the Cerrado. This totals 550,026 hectares (1.3 million acres) of deforestation and conversion on farms associated with Brazil’s largest meatpackers, 45% of which was in the Amazon Rainforest and 55% in the Cerrado.
The analysis also revealed supply links to two high-risk slaughterhouses not run by JBS, Marfrig or Minerva. Big Charque in the state of Rondônia and Frisacre Frigorífico Santo Afonso in the state of Acre were flagged as high-risk for not having signed the Conduct Adjustment Agreement (TAC) for Amazon ranching. The TAC mandates that meatpackers ensure their suppliers are not involved in illegal deforestation, are not embargoed by environmental authorities and do not operate in conservation or Indigenous areas or use slave-like labor. The report traced beef from these slaughterhouses to a region between Amazonas, Acre and Rondônia states known as AMACRO, a deforestation hotspot.
“[The meatpackers] must be responsible for their supply chains,” Gameiro said. “They have sustainability and environmental policies, but most of them are not complete.”
A key offender
Fazenda Soberana, one of the key properties in the report, has faced intense environmental scrutiny for widespread deforestation in the Pantanal. Lemes was fined $521 million, the largest environmental penalty in the state of Mato Grosso’s history, for deforesting tens of thousands of hectares on 11 of his farms, including Fazenda Soberana. He spent 25 million reais ($4.5 million) on herbicides to deforest this area.
“Agrochemicals are expensive and the idea [of Lemes using them] was mostly to not get detected by Brazil’s deforestation system of analyzing satellite images that can easily detect when trees are cut down,” Gameiro said. “Chemical deforestation is very hard to detect because throughout the years, it seems that the vegetation has simply degraded.”
According to the report, Fazenda Soberana is linked both directly and indirectly to the beef supply chain. These include Minerva Paranatinga as both a direct and indirect supplier; Marfrig Varzea Grande as an indirect supplier; and JBS Pedra Preta, Barra do Garças, Campo Grande and Diamantino as indirect suppliers. It also highlights how deforestation methods are evolving.
“What we are seeing now is that people are deforesting using different techniques,” Gameiro said. “It’s not just the traditional tree cutting. They are using chemicals and fires to clear land to get more space to produce more meat.”
Call for action
The report urges JBS, Marfrig and Minerva to act immediately by investigating the claims and suspending all suppliers linked to deforestation. It also calls for full transparency, demanding these companies publish details of all direct and indirect farm suppliers and the percentage of cattle from zero-deforestation sources.
While direct suppliers are easy to track, cattle in Brazil often pass through multiple farms before reaching slaughterhouses, creating gaps in oversight. Gameiro argues that meatpackers have the tools to trace these indirect suppliers but choose to claim ignorance. Thaís Bannwart, a campaigner at Greenpeace-Brasil, told Mongabay that, despite promises made 15 years ago, major meatpackers still don’t fully monitor indirect suppliers, nor can they guarantee their production is free of socioenvironmental violations.
“Until [they include all indirect suppliers], their commitments to transparency and production chains free from socioenvironmental violations will not be effective,” Bannwart said.
Supermarkets such as Carrefour, Casino/GPA, Grupo Mateus and Sendas/Assaí are also urged to sever ties with meatpackers linked to deforestation and to disclose the origin and supply chain of their beef products. Despite some progress — such as Carrefour’s Forest Transparency Platform, which blocked 177 rogue farms in the Amazon in 2023 — the report finds that much more needs to be done to ensure that beef sold in Brazilian supermarkets is not contributing to deforestation.
Marfrig confirmed to Mongabay in a written statement that Fazenda Soberana supplied cattle in 2018 and 2019, meeting socioenvironmental criteria at the time, but blocked the farm after noting an embargo by Mato Grosso’s environmental agency. It added that it aims to monitor all indirect suppliers by 2025 and currently tracks 87% in the Amazon and 73% in the Cerrado.
Minerva told Mongabay in a written statement that “monitoring indirect suppliers is the biggest challenge the sector currently faces, as it requires investment in effective public policies overseen by the relevant government agencies, as well as the participation of the entire value chain to ensure full traceability of cattle.” It added that it had achieved full compliance in its cattle purchases in Pará, Rondônia and Mato Grosso between 2020 and 2021 and clarified that it had no commercial ties with Fazenda Soberana and had blocked the rancher from future sales.
JBS addressed the accusations in May to Mighty Earth, stating that deforestation alerts had not been confirmed, and that purchases from other farms in the report were made before any potential socioenvironmental violations were identified.
Environmentalists also urge JBS to drop its bid to join the U.S. stock market. Mighty Earth warns that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of JBS’ IPO could make it the largest climate risk in history. This scrutiny comes alongside a recent lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James, who accuses JBS of making deceptive claims about its net-zero goals.
“Until Brazil eliminates deforestation and holds those who commit deforestation and use fire illegally accountable, and if agribusiness doesn’t ban environmentally destructive producers from their supply chains, biomes like the Pantanal could disappear within a few decades,” Bannwart said.
This article by Sarah Brown was first published by Mongabay.com on 17 September 2024. Lead Image: The Pantanal wetland, home to the world’s largest jaguar population, is facing an environmental crisis due to record-breaking fires and illegal chemical deforestation. Image © Marcus Mesquita/Mighty Earth.
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