The production and trade of soy and beef from Brazil is linked to deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity. These impacts motivate existing zero-deforestation commitments from countries and companies, but the effects of such commitments on local water use and scarcity are poorly understood.

One of the main pathways for achieving deforestation-free supply chains is to intensify agricultural production – a process which can be highly demanding on water resources. Brazilian soybeans rely almost entirely on rainfall whose magnitude can decrease with upwind deforestation and increase with upwind irrigation; a growing Brazilian cattle population will require an increasing amount of drinking water typically stored in farm impoundments on the landscape.

This project explores the links between the global trade of Brazilian soy and beef commodities, water use and water scarcity, and policies designed to improve the sustainability of supply chains (particularly zero-deforestation commitments).

Our work also seeks to use Trase to highlight the links between water use for soy and beef and commodity exports from Brazil, and the effects of land use and land use change on regional precipitation.

Funder: Formas
Partner: Stockholm Resilience Centre

Objectives

  • Quantify regional water use for Brazilian soy and beef sectors in relation to product exports
  • Reveal the shared responsibility of producers and consumers on the impacts of deforestation and agricultural intensification on the regional water cycle
  • Assess trade-offs between water use and environmental impacts resulting from producer and consumer interventions and policies that aim to combat deforestation.
irrigation system watering a farm field of soy, in Brazil
Photo: Alfribeiro / Getty Images.
Cattle graze on yellow grass near watering hole in dry Brazilian landscape in front of mountains, Porteirinha, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Beyond deforestation: water use in global agricultural commodity supply chains

Deforestation is not the only factor that should be considered in a crop's environmental footprint. Water use is often overlooked in agricultural policy.