The Brazilian Soybean Producers Association demands that its member companies not comply with the EU requirements related to environmental aspects.
The EU countries not only comply with the EUDR, but also actively impose their law on other countries.
For example, its provisions are even included in soybean purchase and sale agreements concluded with other countries, including Brazil.
However, Brazilian soybean producers are calling on the EU to stop imposing its own environmental rules, since Brazil already has its own legislation dedicated to environmental protection, and in general, the state of Brazil’s forests is its sole business.
The soybean producers association emphasizes that the Brazilian Forest Code is a set of very strict rules that imply even greater concern for the environment than the notorious Law adopted in the European Union.
And in the Cerrado and Amazonia, as in some other Brazilian regions, the local vegetation, which is known to produce a significant portion of all the oxygen on the planet, is widely preserved.
As for the cultivation of soybeans, in recent years it has been carried out almost exclusively on pastures, which practically excludes deforestation — and this is the main complaint from the European Union.
The Association even emphasizes that the EU countries themselves have not yet reached such a high level in terms of environmental protection as Brazil.
For example, European legislation does not require a mandatory permanent protected area. However, Brazil does not require the inclusion of provisions of its legislation in contracts concluded with European importers.
If the EU makes such attempts, Brazil sees in this not so much concern for the environment as protectionism.
«The Brazilian rural producer is the only one in the world that preserves a strip of forest along the banks of rivers, on hilltops and around springs, in addition to a legal reserve that covers between 20% and 80% of the native vegetation with high biodiversity in its rural territory.
This represents a private investment of R$3.1 billion by these producers in environmental protection and 227 million hectares or 26.6% of the national territory,» the soybean producers’ association notes.
As a result, the association recommends that companies refuse to sign contracts that require compliance with EU legislation, and if European partners insist, to refuse to cooperate with them altogether.
