"World Bank approves $200 million IFC loan for industrial agriculture in Brazil’s Cerrado", 01 July 2022

...The $200 million loan was granted to industrial agricultural producer Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) for monoculture soy and corn production in Brazil’s Cerrado, a grassland biome that has lost nearly 80% of its habitat cover.

....Kari Hamerschlag, Deputy Director of Food and Agriculture at Friends of the Earth, told Mongabay...[:]...“This company doesn’t need development funds. The money should be going towards enterprises that truly promote equitable development.”

...Corn, soy and cattle ranching have been connected to a long list of human rights violations — including forced labor, land grabbing and violence against Indigenous and traditional communities — while accelerating deforestation and greenhouse gas emission rates.

The most recent example of LDC controversy involves a report released last week from Reporter Brasil, which found that one of LDC’s suppliers, Agrícola Xingu, has been responsible for furthering land conflicts in western Bahia...

“LDC operates in strict compliance with all applicable laws and regulations globally, in line with our unwavering commitment to operate safely, reliably and safeguarding our planet’s finite resources,” it said in a statement to Mongabay.

The loan was granted by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a sister organization of the World Bank that’s tasked with private sector finance in developing countries...

“We combine investments and advisory services to help the sector address higher demand and escalating food prices in an environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive way,” an IFC spokesman told Mongabay in an email. “The proposed project with LDC will support a portfolio of eligible soy and corn farmers in Brazil that are committed to zero deforestation and conversion of native vegetation”...

...Three chairs — the Dutch, Nordic and Chinese — reportedly abstained on the vote. No office objected, according to Friends of the Earth...