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The Killing Fields: Growing Soy in South America
Monday, September 10, 2012 20:02
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What are the true costs of growing Soy in South America?
In Paraguay over 2.6 million hectares are used for growing soy, which is primarily used as animal feed for factory farms in Europe. While European farmers may delight in having access to cheap GMO food for their meat farms, this practice has thrown the eco-system and social systems of South America into an unmitigated catastrophe.
Some of the major problems that soy farming creates in South America are:
- Deforestation
- Displacement of indigenous peoples
- Destruction and confiscation of local farmlands
- Drastic reduction in the variety and availability of human foods
- Vast poisoning of land, water and people and wildlife by the overuse of pesticides, herbicides and other agrochemicals
- The expansion of GMO farming
- Transfer of land away from private ownership to corporate ownership
- Cruel tactics used to force people into giving up lands
- Loss of food sovereignty
- Increases in hunger while corporate profits increase dramatically
- Climate change, increased temperatures, loss of watersheds, emissions of greenhouse gasses
Please watch this must see short video about these horrific problems being created by our increasingly unsustainable food system. More importantly, though, please give deep consideration to how you can become part of the solution, either by adjusting your diet and buying habits, participating in political movements, or by direct action.
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