SIGN NOW: Tell Burger King and Morrisons to stop deforestation

To find out the real impact of European meat, we sent an investigative team to South America’s agricultural frontier. We documented how soy raised for European animal feed drives deforestation in Argentina and Paraguay, two of the leading soy-producing countries in South America.

The meat industry relies on massive quantities of soy for animal feed to raise livestock: about 75% of the world’s soy is used for animal feed. More than one million square kilometers of land are dedicated to growing soy, an area almost three times the size of Germany. And to feed the cows, hogs and chickens that UK and European customers demand, soy production is expanding across Latin America’s agricultural frontier, a global hotspot for deforestation. Large companies like the American agribusinesses Cargill and Bunge are driving the destruction of ancient native ecosystems and the wildlife habitat they contain to make way for industrial soy monocultures that feed European companies like Morrisons and Burger King.

Europe imported 46.8 million tons of soy and soybean products in 2016, 27.8 million tons of which came from Latin America. 8.8 million hectares are needed to grow the soy that is imported to the EU each year, equal to an area larger than Austria. How that soy is grown determines the environmental impact of the meat consumed in Europe.

If you’re ready to stop deforestation, sign here to tell Burger King and other big companies to stop buying soy sourced from Latin America’s rainforest.