Brazil’s environmental authorities seized around 7,000 illegal head of cattle in the Amazon and issued fines to several ranchers and slaughterhouses, including JBS NV, reports Bloomberg. Nearly a quarter of Brazil’s beef exports to the U.S. come from slaughterhouses located next to areas where illegal deforestation is rampant, according to the Earthsight environmental group.Raising cattle is the main driver of deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon, along with opening roads. Between 1985 and 2023, an area slightly larger than France has been converted into pasture, said the Bloomberg report. Currently, 13 Amazon-based slaughterhouses have approval to export to the U.S. Five of them are located in Rondonia state, where lawmakers passed legislation that regularized hundreds of cattle ranchers who had converted a protected conservation area into pasture for more than 200,000 head of cattle.
Brazil Cracks Down on Illegal Cattle Operations
Brazil’s environmental authorities seized around 7,000 illegal head of cattle in the Amazon and issued fines to several ranchers and slaughterhouses.
(Farm Journal)
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