Cerrado: Agribusiness boomtown; profits for a few, hardships for many

Cargill soy silos are both a symbol and a source of the prosperity of the city of Luis Eduardo Magalhães, Brazil’s latest agribusiness urban hotspot. Photo by Flávia Milhorance This is the fifth of six stories in a series by journalists Alicia Prager and Flávia Milhorance who travelled to the Cerrado in February for Mongabay to assess the impacts of agribusiness on the region’s environment and people. Driving up BR 020 into Luís Eduardo Magalhães, we’re greeted by huge soy storage silos, the property of Cargill, the transnational commodities company — leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that we’ve arrived in the newest urban hotspot serving Brazil’s latest agribusiness frontier. In 2000, this Western Bahia city became a soy hub in its own right, emancipating itself from the state’s other soy capital, Barreiras (of which it was once a part). Since then, the population of Luís Eduardo Magalhães (LEM) has increased more than fourfold to 83,000 people, making it one of the fastest growing urban centers in Brazil. Swelling that population are rural people — fleeing drought or lack of opportunities — along with farmers seeking to prosper by becoming part of the booming agribusiness economy. LEM’s city center boasts some tall buildings, agribusiness suppliers, clothing shops and food stores, plus lots of commodity-related truck traffic. Photo by Flávia Milhorance Today, Luís Eduardo Magalhães is a national agribusiness powerhouse, with the fourth highest GDP per capita in Bahia state, and ranking 20th in Brazil’s GDP of Agribusiness. Its growth is…

from Conservation news https://ift.tt/2ukRhAX
via IFTTT