Brazilian soybean producers on Tuesday said there are reasons for farmers in the country to boycott Danone after the company said it had stopped sourcing from the country.
The French dairy giant’s finance chief told Reuters last week that the company was instead buying soybeans from countries in Asia.
He said the move came ahead of a European Union rule requiring companies to prove they are not sourcing from deforested land.
Aprosoja Brazil – a group defending farmers in the world’s largest soybean producer and exporter – said in a statement that Danone’s move showed “lack of knowledge” of Brazil’s production process.
It added that the move was a “discrimination against the country.”
It continued, “There is no doubt that Brazilian producers, tired of being unfairly singled out as villains, will start to have more than enough reasons to put Danone and other global brands on the list of companies to be boycotted in Brazil.”
Danone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Deforestation Regulation
The EU Deforestation Regulation, covering imports of commodities like cocoa, coffee and soy, was scheduled to come into effect on 30 December.
However, the EU Commission this month proposed a 12-month delay.
Companies such as Nestlé and Unilever have been gearing up to meet the new regulation before they face potential fines of up to 20% of turnover.
Brazilian law states that farmers must preserve between 20% and 80% of legal reserves, depending on the biome where they are planting.
Despite this, and a drop in rates under President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, rainforest destruction rates remain high.
While major traders have vowed to stop sourcing soybeans from newly cleared land in the Amazon rainforest, soy farming continues to be a major driver of deforestation in the nearby Cerrado savanna.
Aprosoja said that “although there is deforestation, there is also a lot of natural regeneration.”
The group suggested that Brazil’s government could file complaints before the World Trade Organisation and look for “compensation measures” from the EU as Brazilian farmers are now facing losses due to European legislation.
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