Site with information about the impacts of large monocultures, specifically soy, on people's lives and the environment.
The Soy Campaign
A SEED's soy campaign questions large scale soy production in South America and supports sustainable and local food production in Europe. The campaign has the following goals:
To inform the general public about the social and ecological effects of the massive soy production in Latin America; land conflicts, violence, rising pesticide use, GMOs, deforestation, erosion and loss of food sovereignty.
To link the issue with meat production and consumption in Europe; Most of the soy is used as animal feed in Europe (and China). This meat industry creates animal cruelty and pollution by over-fertilisation.
To stop the current certification processes; nature conservation organisations and some NGOs, together with companies, are creating criteria for so called 'responsible soy' that are unacceptable for local peasants and don't question the current export-volume neither the use of genetically manipulated seeds.
To give direct support to local initiatives that fight the soy expansion by giving international attention to their struggle, doing solidarity actions in Europe and raising money.
While the problems related to soy production are continuously increasing, a new campaign focus is taking shape: fuel and electricity produced from agriculture products. Recently the threat of climate change and the increasing scarcity of fossil fuels has sped up this alarming development.
It is best to visit this website with Firefox or another open source browser. The use of Micro$oft Internet Explorer is for your own risk and when you do, it is possible that the site will not look the way it is meant to do.
"Round Table set to certify damaging soy"
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
New report published by groups from Europe, the US and South America
The Round Table on Responsible Soy is seeking to legitimise irresponsible, socially and environmentally damaging soy production, according to a new report published on Tuesday 22 April, ahead of the Round Table on Responsible Soy’s third conference in Buenos Aires.
[1]
The report from a coalition of organisations working in Europe, the US and South America [2] reveals that the Round Table, which brings together industry with NGOs, will do little to prevent the expansion of soy production, destroying small scale farmers and natural ecosystems. Weak draft principles which allow the use of GM soy, combined with an expected lack of monitoring or enforcement, mean that so-called “responsible” producers will have to do little to change practice on the ground.
An Maeyens from A SEED Europe, one of the authors of the report, said: “The Round Table on Responsible Soy is a greenwash exercise for soy producers, agribusiness and European food and feed companies to keep expanding their trade of transporting food stuffs around the world. Soy monocultures are not sustainable - and they should not be legitimised by 'responsible' labels”
The report comes as organisations and movements from across Latin America and elsewhere have issued a damning attack on the Round Table ahead of the third conference for its attempts to establish criteria for “responsible” soy production [3]. They say that the only “responsible” way forward is to put a halt to the expansion of soy.
Stella Semino from Grupo de Reflexion Rural said: “In Argentina, forests are burning because cattle farmers have been forced to find new pastures to make way for GM soy. As the Round Table meets in Buenos Aires to redefine the meaning of “responsible”, the intensive farming methods it relies on are depleting the soil, polluting the ground water and damaging wildlife.”
Javiera Rulli from the social research centre BASEIS in Paraguay said: “The soy production boom in Paraguay is having devastating effects. Small landowners are being forced to sell their farms to the big producers because they cannot compete in this aggressive industrial market place. Rural communities that once grew their own food have been driven from the land into the cities where they struggle to find work and live in poverty.”
The damaging impacts of the booming trade in South American soy have been widely documented, the report says, with evidence showing that soy monocultures destroy rural economies, leading to land conflicts; as well as contributing to deforestation and biodiversity loss. The heavy pesticide use associated with soy production is contaminating water supplies and causing health problems for workers and communities living nearby.
The RTRS calls itself a “multi-stakeholder” organisation, but the communities directly affected by soy production have always refused to be involved. How, they ask, can they believe in solutions that are put forward by the very companies that threaten their livelihoods.
As things stand, the Round Table’s criteria will allow genetically modified RoundupReady soy to be certified as “responsible”.
Nina Holland from Corporate Europe Observatory said: "Many Round Table members, including European business associations for the animal feed and vegetable oil industries, are currently involved in a misleading lobbying campaign in Europe to speed up approvals for new GM varieties and to allow unapproved GM produce to be imported into the EU."
The report highlights the current imbalance in food production globally, with most vegetable proteins grown in developing countries for the benefit of animal farmers in the north and calls for a more sustainable approach based on greater food sovereignty.
Countries in Europe and South America are paying the price of this damaging and polluting method of food production. The report calls for a more responsible approach to feeding the world - based on more local production and less intensive farming methods, with people in rich countries eating less meat.
A civil society declaration against the RTRS was widely signed by organisations from the South and the North. Critical statements rejecting the RTRS process have also been released by Friends of the Earth International and the Global Forest Coalition (see below).
Copies of the full report, The Round Table on Ir-responsible Soy - Certifying soy expansion, GM soy and agrofuels, will be also available at www.corporateeurope.org
Notes: [1] The Round Table on Responsible Soy - a “multi-stakeholder forum” bringing together large NGOs with soy producers, holds its third conference on “Responsible Soy: Food, Feed And Fuel to a Future world” in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 23-25 April 2008. [2] A SEED Europe, BASEIS, Corporate Europe Observatory, Grupo de Reflexion Rural, Rainforest Action Network [3] The 2008 declaration opposing the Round Table on Responsible Soy can be found here on the A SEED site.
Soy 
