“Bunge bought soy from biggest destroyers of Brazilian savanna in 2020”, 30 March 2021

...Global commodities trader Bunge bought soybeans from farms responsible for deforesting an area twice as large as Manhattan in Brazil’s Cerrado savanna in 2020, the most among the world’s major trading firms, a report said on Tuesday. Brazil’s SLC Agricola, which sells to Bunge and others, was the soy producer responsible for the most deforestation. The company cleared 101.5 square km (39 square miles) - according to an analysis by Chain Reaction Research, a consortium of nongovernment organizations. Bunge and SLC Agricola said the deforestation was not illegal...Roughly half of the Cerrado has been destroyed to date, largely to make way for farming of soy, beef, corn and other agricultural products...Second-ranked Cargill had nearly 12 times less deforestation in 2020 than Bunge. Bunge said in a statement that it does not purchase soy from illegally deforested areas in the Cerrado and is working to eliminate all deforestation from its supply chains by 2025. The company said it has extensive deforestation monitoring in place for some 8,000 farms that account for 96% of its purchases in the region. A Cargill spokeswoman said that the company is committed to ending deforestation in its supply chains by 2030, including legal clearances, and it is working to accelerate those efforts...