A Hunger for Land: paraguay_soy03

Lote 8, Minga Porá district, Alto Paraná--October 29, 2008--Once a town of several hundred, the village of Lote 8 has all but been abandoned as transgenic soybean producers from Brazil began farming the area's highly fertile land, driving farmers to sell their land at low prices due to repeated exposure to the agrochemicals used in industrial soybean production. Although Paraguayan law states that a minimum of 100 meters of natural protection in the form of trees must exist between any areas where pesticide spraying occurs, and houses, schools, health centers, churches, plazas, water sources or roads, throughout Paraguay it is a commmon to see industrial soybean fields reaching right up to the road, surrounding houses, churches, even schools.

Lote 8, Minga Porá district, Alto Paraná--October 29, 2008--Once a town of several hundred, the village of Lote 8 has all but been abandoned as transgenic soybean producers from Brazil began farming the area's highly fertile land, driving farmers to sell their land at low prices due to repeated exposure to the agrochemicals used in industrial soybean production. Although Paraguayan law states that a minimum of 100 meters of natural protection in the form of trees must exist between any areas where pesticide spraying occurs, and houses, schools, health centers, churches, plazas, water sources or roads, throughout Paraguay it is a commmon to see industrial soybean fields reaching right up to the road, surrounding houses, churches, even schools.