Factsheet: SoyM

Brazil's Soy Moratorium: SoyM is a pledge agreed to by major soybean companies not to trade soybean produced in deforested areas after 24th July 2006 in the Brazilian Amazon biome. On July 2006, ABIOVE (Brazilian Vegetable Oil Industry Association) and ANEC (Brazilian Grain Exporters Association), and their respective member companies, pledged not to trade and finance soy originated after that date in deforested areas within the Amazon Biome. This unique initiative, known as the “Soy Moratorium”, seeks to reconcile environmental preservation with the region's economic development, through the responsible and sustainable use of Brazil's natural resources. The Soy Moratorium (SoyM) is the first voluntary zero-deforestation agreement implemented in the tropics and set the stage for supply-chain governance of other commodities, such as beef and palm oil. In response to pressure from retailers and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), major soybean traders signed the SoyM, agreeing not to purchase soy grown on lands deforested after July 2006 in the Brazilian Amazon. The soy industry recently extended the SoyM to May 2016, by which time they assert that Brazil's environmental governance, such as the increased enforcement and national implementation of the Rural Environmental Registry of private properties (Portuguese acronym CAR) mandated by the Forest Code, will be robust enough to justify ending the agreement. A longer-term commitment should help to maintain deforestation-free soy supply chains, as full compliance and enforcement of these regulations is likely years away. Ending the SoyM prematurely would risk a return to deforestation for soy expansion at a time when companies are committing to zero-deforestation supply chains.