New Soy Action Plan Shows Cargill is Fiddling While South America Burns
In response to Cargill’s announcement of a new Soy Action Plan, Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz released the following statement:
“Cargill is fiddling while South America burns. When you drill down, the only commitment they have made is to obey the law, which we would hope they would do anyway. Cargill’s new policy is such a nothingburger that even their largest customer, McDonald’s, wouldn’t dare serve it.
“The amount Cargill has pledged toward forest protection is but a tiny fraction of the amount they spend funding forest destruction through their purchases and financing. Until Cargill stops purchasing from suppliers engaged in destruction of native ecosystems or human rights abuses, it’s hard to see how change will happen. The Soy Action Plan released today is a total failure of leadership from Cargill CEO David MacLennan, who has repeatedly committed to end deforestation, basked in positive attention for his commitments, but then utterly failed to take actions that would actually stop deforestation.
“Many people inside Cargill are just as disappointed and frustrated as we are that Cargill continues to drive massive deforestation when there are 1.6 billion acres of degraded land where agriculture could be expanded sustainably.
“Cargill’s dithering means that their customers are selling meat linked to totally avoidable deforestation. The question now is whether Cargill customers like Ahold Delhaize and McDonald’s will take any action to shift business from Cargill or allow the company to continue to tie them and their customers to deforestation and displacement of indigenous communities.
“While we welcome Cargill’s stated willingness to invest money in incentivizing forest conservation, they seem to have no idea how the money would be spent or how it would get the job done. Unfortunately, the track record of such investments in the absence of strict conservation policies is poor, and they are no substitute for a real policy and real commitment.”
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Alex Armstrong
