Creating farmland: In order to be able to grow the huge quantities of soy, arable land must first be created. Unscrupulous methods are used for this, which do not spare either people or nature. Large areas of forest are burned down – a catastrophe for biodiversity. Inhabitants are being driven off their land, sometimes under threat of violence.

Soy monocultures: Once the land has been finally cleared, soy monocultures are grown right up to the horizon. However, this requires a great effort, as the repeated cultivation of the same plant removes important nutrients from the soil. For this reason, chemical fertilizers and pesticides are sprayed, resulting in a heavy chemical burden on nature.

Shipment to Europe: The soy harvested in Brazil is not used locally, but is used as animal feed for industrial agriculture. It is distributed around the globe in huge ships, much of it to Europe. These long transportation routes also pollute the environment.

Industrial animal husbandry: Even if the soybean’s journey comes to an end at this stage, the supply chain is not over yet. The soy is fed in pigsties and then converted into carcinogenic nitrate in the course of natural cycles. Due to the amount of livestock, this results in excess nitrate, which seeps into the groundwater and pollutes the soil.

Cheap meat on supermarket shelves: After all, the animals are slaughtered and sold cheaply to the big supermarket chains. But the farmers hardly benefit from the sales. As the supermarket chains have used their influence to force the farmers into a state of dependency, the profits remain in the hands of the owners.