Unsustainable proposal: The production of raw materials for future biofuel processing plants in Entre Rios.

June 2007 A number of international bodies, academic institutions and well-known civil society organisation are currently debating and ‘consulting’ on the sustainable production of energy commodities. Discussions on the establishment of standards, sustainability criteria and certification will give the production of raw materials for biofuels an air of acceptability. But the discussions have ignored all the existing evidence compiled to date regarding the devastating impacts that the intensive production of agricultural commodities (such as soya) has had in Argentina. The 16 million hectares planted with
soya have destroyed the country’s traditional agriculture, which was based on extensive livestock rearing, the quality of which was of world renown. Traditionally, the agriculture and farming system created jobs for local communities without the need for pesticides and fertilisers, but the turning point at which food security and sovereignty were destroyed in Argentina started to become noticeable from 1996, the year in which the dramatic expansion of soya production began.