Brazil’s antitrust regulator, CADE, on Sept. 30 decided to suspend the Amazon soy moratorium from Jan. 1, 2026. Depending on the probe’s course of action, this could dismantle one of the nation’s most important private sector pacts credited with slowing deforestation of the tropical rainforest for soy plantations.
Initiated in 2006, the Amazon soy moratorium is an agreement between soy traders, industry groups and environmental organizations to not purchase soy grown on land in the Amazon cleared after 2008. Its signatories include commodity-trading giants Cargill, Bunge, Cofco and Louis Dreyfus. CADE suspended the moratorium in August this year, but a federal court reinstated it one week later.
At a hearing on Sept. 30, CADE’s councilors voted 4-2 to postpone the suspension by three months until Dec. 21, 2025. The two in favor wanted an immediate suspension. According to José Levi, a CADE councilor who supported the delay, the three-month window would allow time for private parties and public officials to engage in dialogue.
CADE president Gustavo Augusto said at the hearing that the decision is focused on preventing unilateral decisions by multinational companies. “We cannot allow foreign multinationals to regulate a product essential to human life, because we are talking about food. Soy is protein … meat depends on soy.”
The Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA), a lobby group representing soy farmers, said in a statement the moratorium pact is illegal because it goes beyond Brazilian law and harms farmers who have farms legally cleared after 2008.
“CNA reiterates that the agreement is illegal, harms rural producers, and is confident that the moratorium will be terminated no later than Jan. 1, 2026,” the statement said.
Farmer lobby groups also accused the trading companies of sharing information about growers. But Abiove, the association representing the multinational grain traders, denied this.
“The moratorium is a source of national pride. It is the world’s leading model of an agreement that protects the environment while enabling economic growth,” Francisco Ribeiro Todorov of Abiove said.
CNA’s Amanda Flávio de Oliveira said at the hearing that the moratorium had caused 4 billion reais ($750 million) in losses to farmers from 2018-2021.
According to a 2024 joint report including Abiove, soy production in the Amazon increased by 4.5 times since 2008, while deforestation was cut by 69% in the 124 municipalities that were monitored.
“The moratorium is not illegal because [Brazilian law] sets a floor, not a ceiling, for environmental protection,” Daniel Gustavo Santos Rocha, a federal prosecutor for IBAMA, the federal environmental agency, said at the hearing. “Brazil’s international climate commitments set an even stricter standard, aimed at zero deforestation.”
Cristiane Mazzetti, forest coordinator for Greenpeace Brasil, wrote in a statement that the NGO remains vigilant to ensure the moratorium remains active in 2026. “Without additional initiatives, we will not reach zero deforestation” or meet Brazil’s emissions reduction goals.
Banner image: Tractor harvesting soy in Brazil. Image by charlesricardo via Pixabay.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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