Earlier this week, a column by New York Times writer Paul Krugman said that ethanol expansion in Brazil was coming at the expense of the rainforest. European agriculture officials, along with activist groups like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, continue charging from Europe that Brazil's sugarcane crops are expanding into the forests to make ethanol.
Stephanes told an audience of government employees from the Agriculture Ministry, Rural Development Ministry, the Environmental Ministry, and others in the Lower House of Congress on Wednesday that the country could double productive capacity of its farm crops over the next 15 to 20 years without deforesting.
Stephanes said farmers can plant over pasture land.
Brazil's main crop, soybeans, expanded around 3% this year, all of it in the center-west region on old abandoned soy fields.
Sugarcane is mostly grown in the center-south region, though small amounts of cane are actually growing in Amazonas state and Acre, both in the Amazon biome.
Brazil is the world's leading sugarcane producer and No. 2 soy producer.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1336205/
No comments:
Post a Comment