The study analyzed data from publications by the CRR consortium between 2014 and 2022 directly or indirectly linked to Cargill’s global trading links.
Realtime Deforestation Monitoring System (RDM) & Rapid Response (RR)
The “Realtime Deforestation Monitoring System” (RDM) and the “Rapid Response” (RR) publish case studies linking recent deforestation and fire events visually confirmed to soy traders and meatpackers in Latin America.
The RR initiative was a partnership between AidEnvironment and Mighty Earth. For this analysis, we considered the 21 RR reports published between 2019 and 2021. The RDM program is an AidEnvironment program established in January 2022. For this analysis, we considered the 11 RDM reports published during 2022 and 2023.
For this analysis, we only included cases with potential links to Cargill under the “High” and “Medium” levels of certainty. The “high” level of certainty of links to soy traders is chosen when soy traders confirm trading links with the property or vice-versa, and when the trader has assets within the property. The “medium” level of certainty of links to soy traders is chosen when soy traders confirm trading links with the producer/company or vice- versa, and when traders do not confirm but neither deny the trading links with the property/producer.
Chain Reaction Research
We analyzed 135 publications by the Chain Reaction Research (CRR) consortium. These publications are either “chains” or “reports.” The CRR “chains” usually present a short analysis of relevant facts or comments on third-party analysis and reports. The CRR “reports” are an extended analysis focused on a company, commodity, sector, or specific theme. The analysis focused on giving each of the publications one or more keywords to classify the content. Then, after indexing the publications, we analyzed if Cargill was directly or indirectly linked to the reported case involving: deforestation, fires, and Human Rights violations.
| CRR | # | Relevant keywords* | Only other keywords |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chains | 92 | 57 | 35 |
| Reports | 43 | 17 | 26 |
| 135 | 74 | 61 |
*Deforestation, fires, Human Rights violations
Around 55% of the analyzed publications are linked to the selected relevant keywords. Among these publications, we found:
- 50 cases linked to deforestation
- 15 cases linked to fires
- 9 cases linked to Human Rights violations
Human Rights Violations
Among the nine cases linked to Human Rights violations, five are related to Palm Oil production in Southeast Asia. These cases are linked to Felda Global Ventures (FGV), Indofood, Sime Darby, and Fagiono family-linked companies (First Resources, FAP Agr, Ciliandry Angky Abadi). All these companies were on Cargill’s palm oil supplier list at the time of the analyzed publications.
- Felda Global Ventures: in 2015, an article from the Wall Street Journal reported labor abuses in Felda’s palm oil plantation in Malaysia. At the time, Cargill and RSPO said they were unaware of the violations and would investigate them. In 2020, the US government published a “Withhold Release Order (WRO)” on palm oil products produced by Felda
Global Ventures. - Indofood: was sanctioned by the RSPO for labor conditions violations. At the time of the report, Cargill had cut ties with the company after that.
- Sime Darby: after the alleged forced labor conditions in Palm Oil plantations in Malaysia, Sime Darby was banned from the US market. At the time of the ban, Sime Darby was still on Cargill’s Palm Oil supplier list.
- Fagiono family-linked companies (First Resources, FAP Agr, Ciliandry Angky Abadi-CAA): FAP and CAA are linked to several social conflicts in Palm Oil concessions. Although there
is evidence of ownership overlap between the three companies, First Resources denied any ownership link with FAP or CAA. First Resources is on Cargill’s supplier list at the time of the report.
There are also three cases linked to Palm Oil production in Latin America. These are linked to two companies: Agropalma and BrasilBioFuels (BBF, former Biopalma). Cargill is a relevant buyer of palm oil from both companies.
- Agropalma: linked to Human Rights violations through social conflicts, land-grabbing cases, and poor labor conditions.
- BrasilBioFuels (former Biopalma): established in 2007 by the mining company Vale, also linked to a series of environmental impacts and Human Rights violations.
There is one case linked to soy production in Latin America. An investigation by “De Olho nos Ruralistas” and EarthSight revealed that Cargill exported soy to the UK from the property “Brasília do Sul” (Mato Grosso do Sul). The farm is under an ownership dispute impacting the Guarani Kaiowá Indigenous population.
Deforestation and Fires in Southeast Asia
Among the 55 cases linked to deforestation and/or fire events, those linked to Palm Oil production in Southeast Asia are related to deforestation in the Palm Oil concessions of 18 different companies in Southeast Asia. Below is a summary of the amount of deforestation linked to each of these companies potentially linked to Cargill’s Palm Oil suppliers at the time of the report.
| Company (Palm Oil production in Southeast Asia) |
Estimated deforestation (hectares) | Period* |
|
Varia Mitra Adalan (Eagle High Plantations) |
1,000 |
2015 |
|
Gama plantations |
21,500 |
2015-2018 |
|
Jhonlin Group |
11,900 |
2018-2020 |
|
Bintulu Lumber Development |
3,000 |
2018 |
|
Bewani Oil Palm Plantation |
20,000 |
2010-2018 |
|
Mulia Sawit Agro Group |
2,600 |
2018 |
|
Punti Lahan Khatulistiwa |
900 |
2018 |
|
Mulia Sawit Group |
2,600 |
2018 |
|
Indonusa |
1,930 |
2019 |
|
Tunas Baru Lampung |
1,350 |
2019 |
|
Peputra Group |
2,100 |
2019 |
|
Best Group |
1,280 |
2019 |
|
Tabung Haji Plantations |
2,500 |
2016-2018 |
|
First Resources |
100 |
2020 |
|
Ciliandry Angky Abadi |
3,200 |
2020 |
|
Sumber Tani Agung Resources |
270 |
2021 |
|
Permata Sawit Mandiri |
2,450 |
2020-2021 |
|
Sawit Rokan Semesta |
600 |
2022 |
We also found cross-commodities cases linked to forest plantations operated by Palm Oil suppliers to Cargill. These cases are linked to five companies: Indofood, United Malacca Berhad, Djarum, Astra Agro Lestari, and FAP Agr. Cargill also had potential links to fire events in Palm Oil concessions in Indonesia between 2014 and 2018.
Deforestation and Fires in Latin America
Among the 55 cases linked to deforestation and fire events, those linked to soy and Palm Oil production in Latin America are related to four soy producers and two palm oil producers in Brazil. Cargill is among the largest soy buyers of SLC Agrícola Brasil Agro. CRR reports also link Cargill to exposure to deforestation risk in municipalities where Cargill is the leading soy exporter. Below is a summary of estimated deforestation in properties of Cargill’s soy and palm oil suppliers in Brazil.
| Cargill’s soy and palm oil suppliers in Brazil | Estimated deforestation (hectares) | Period* | |
|
Soy |
SLC Agrícola |
39,000 |
2011-2017 |
|
17,000 |
2018 |
||
|
1,350 |
2019 |
||
|
6,550 |
2019-2020 |
||
|
10,150 |
2020 |
||
|
Brasil Agro (Agrifirma) |
21,690 |
2012-2017 |
|
|
5,070 |
2018 |
||
|
1,200 |
2018 |
||
|
11,900(*) |
2020 |
||
|
10,000(*) |
2022 |
||
|
JJF Holding |
26,840 |
2013-2019 |
|
|
2,500 |
2020 |
||
|
Aliança Agrícola do Cerrado (Sodrugestvo) |
830 |
2018-2022 |
|
|
Palm Oil |
Agropalma |
50 |
2008-2021 |
|
BrasilBioFuels (BBF) |
730 |
2008-2021 |
In 2018, Cargill, Bunge, and three other soy traders received a collective environmental fine of USD 6.7 million from IBAMA (Federal Environmental Agency) for links to illegal deforestation in the Cerrado biome. IBAMA stated, “during the investigation, it was verified that the anticipated purchase of grains financed the illegal activity.”
In 2019, CRR found 13,300 fire alerts close to Cargill’s facilities in Brazil (within a 25 km radius of Cargill’s silos) and 12,078 fire alerts in 2020.
Cases Linked to Cargill Since 2019
Among the 32 reports considered in this analysis (21 Rapid Response reports and 11 Realtime Deforestation reports),
we found 35 cases covering 48,913 hectares of deforestation in Amazon and Cerrado biomes that are potentially linked
to Cargill. Cargill had confirmed trading links with 14 of these cases. Below is a summary of the data related to these
35 cases and the deforested area linked to the detailed information.
|
Data linked to the reported deforested area |
Hectares |
# Cases |
|
Total Deforestation reported |
48,913 |
35 |
|
Inside Legal Reserve |
13,948 |
12 |
|
Amazon biome |
9,996 |
11 |
|
Cerrado biome |
38,917 |
24 |
|
Extremely high priority (biodiversity conservation) |
23,235 |
11 |
|
Overlapping Conservation Areas |
16,189 |
6 |
|
Close by Indigenous Territories |
5,978 |
4 |
|
Fire alerts |
287 (alerts) |
5 |
|
Confirmed relationship |
29,786 |
14 |
List of the Analyzed Cases with Trading Links Confirmed by Cargill
| Date | # Report | Biome | Municipality | State | Deforested area (hectares) | Name property |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May-19 | RR-2 | Cerrado | Formosa do Rio Preto | Bahia | 1,355 |
FAZENDA PARCEIRO
|
| Nov-19 | RR-8 | Amazon | Canarana | Mato Grosso | 1,145 | Fazenda Cocal |
| Mar-20 | RR-11 | Cerrado | Formosa do Rio Preto | Bahia | 5,200 |
Fazenda Bom Jardim e Outras (Fazenda Parceiro)
|
| May-20 | RR-13 | Cerrado | Luís Eduardo Magalhães | Bahia | 3,634 |
Fazenda Bananal VIII – Parcela 2
|
| May-10 | RR-13 | Amazon | Santa Carmem | Mato Grosso | 496 |
Fazenda Soledade
|
| Jun-20 | RR-14 | Cerrado | Tasso Fragoso | Maranhão | 4,667 | Palmeira |
| Jun-20 | RR-14 | Cerrado | Luís Eduardo Magalhães | Bahia | 1,579 |
Fazenda Bananal and Bananal X (Fazenda Sertimob)
|
| Aug-20 | RR-17 | Amazon | União do Sul | Mato Grosso | 1,468 |
Fazenda Floresta Ramada I, II, III, IV and V (Fazenda Califórnia)
|
| Sep-20 | RR-18 | Cerrado | Luís Eduardo Magalhães | Bahia | 3,634 |
Fazenda Bananal, Fazenda Bananal VII, IX, and X
|
| Oct-20 | RR-20 | Cerrado | Formosa do Rio Preto | Bahia | 777 |
Fazenda Santo Cristo II
|
| Feb-22 | RDM-1 | Cerrado | Jaborandi | Bahia | 360 |
Fazenda Roberta
|
| Apr-22 | RDM-2 | Cerrado | Santa Filomena | Piauí | 1,976 |
Fazenda Ad Rubi
|
| Jun-22 | RDM-3 | Cerrado | Barreiras | Bahia | 1,747 |
Fazenda Santa Rosa I, II, and III
|
| Sep-22 | RDM-5 | Cerrado | São Desidério | Bahia | 1,748 |
Fazenda Santa Maria
|