A recent investigation has uncovered new significant links between Brazil’s top meatpackers — JBS, Marfrig and Minerva — and widespread environmental destruction in the Pantanal wetlands, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Cerrado savanna. The investigation, part of Mighty Earth’s Rapid Response deforestation monitoring program in partnership with Brazilian news outlet Repórter Brasil and sustainability NGO AidEnvironment, revealed that from October 2023 to February 2024, a total of 4,651 hectares (11,493 acres) were deforested and converted on five cattle farms in the Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal biomes. These ranches reportedly supply Brazil’s largest meatpackers, which, in turn, provide beef products to major retailers such as Carrefour, Casino/GPA, Grupo Mateus and Sendas/Assaí. Notably, 86% of this destruction took place in the Pantanal. At the heart of these findings is Fazenda Soberana, a ranch in the state of Mato Grosso owned by Claudecy Oliveira Lemes. It accounts for 74% of the total deforestation recorded on the five ranches. Lemes is currently under investigation for using the herbicide 2,4-D, a key ingredient in Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War, to destroy 81,200 hectares (200,650 acres) of native vegetation in the Pantanal — an area four times the size of Amsterdam. “[The herbicide] is spread by planes, so it has a great power of spreading all over the area,” Mariana Gameiro, senior adviser at Mighty Earth and co-author of the report, told Mongabay. “It’s highly toxic. It not only kills the trees but it also pollutes watersheds, destroying biodiversity and impacting the health of…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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