Where We Work

South America is responsible for much of the world's soy production, and Brazil recently became the largest producer in this sector. A large part of the output comes from three important biomes – the Cerrado, Gran Chaco and the Amazon – each of them very important for maintaining the planet's biodiversity and climate balance.

Aligning the production of one of the world's major commodities with global demands for environmental preservation and restoration is one of agriculture's great challenges in the 21st century. At the Land Innovation Fund, we will work with strategic partners in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and internationally to pursue innovative solutions for sustainable, deforestation-free agriculture.

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Cerrado

2 million km2 total area

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GRAN CHACO

850,000 km2 total area

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AMAZON

4 million km2 total area, in Brazil alone

  • Cerrado

    The Cerrado is South America's second largest biome, with more than 2 million km² spread over 11 states in Brazil, plus the Federal District, covering about 22% of the nation's territory. The region also encompasses some of the world' s largest river basins (Amazon/Tocantins, São Francisco and Prata) and is home to more than 12,000 native plants catalogued so far. Its huge water reservoirs make the region Brazil's “water tank” and play a fundamental role in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and maintaining the planet's biodiversity.

    Despite being considered the richest savannah in the world, only 8.3% of the Cerrado area is protected in Conservation Units, and more than 250 of its animal species are endangered. 50% of the biome's native vegetation has already been converted into cultivated areas and pastures. The combination of fertile land, water availability, and flat terrain also gives the Cerrado – especially in Matopiba, the agricultural frontier in the states of Maranhão, Piauí, Tocantins, and Western Bahia – a great potential for agribusiness, particularly for grain crops like soybeans. The Cerrado's agricultural endowments highlight the need to think seriously about sustainable development for the region.

    Source: Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA)

  • Gran Chaco

    The Gran Chaco is the Americas’ largest tropical dry forest, covering approximately 850,000 km² in Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, and a small part of Brazil, south of the Pantanal (9,000 Km2), according to Embrapa data. The Chaco has a large variety of climates and landscapes, which gives it a great diversity of environments, including pastures, swamps, dry and flooded savannas, marshes, salt pans, and a vast expanse of forests and shrub vegetation.

    This fertile scenario is conducive to rich biodiversity, with various endemic species, more than 3,400 known plant species, about 500 bird species, 150 different mammals, 120 reptiles, and approximately 100 amphibians, according to The Nature Conservancy. Yet the Gran Chaco is also a global deforestation hotspot: since the 1990s, and especially after 2000, the region has experienced one of the highest deforestation rates in the world – more than 29,000 km² of native vegetation between 2010 and 2018, and another 142,000 km² between 1985 and 2013, according to NASA data – due to mounting pressure to convert natural ecosystems into farmland, particularly for soybeans.

    Sources: Embrapa, The Nature Conservancy, NASA.

  • Amazon

    The Amazon is superlative: the region contains the most extensive tropical rainforest and the largest river basin in the world, covering some 6 million km², with 2,500 species of trees (or one third of all tropical timber in the world), and 30,000 known species of plants. In addition, the Amazon has several endemic species, making it a genetic reserve of global importance for the development of humankind.

    Despite its great importance, this biome has suffered major manmade impacts, including the burning and conversion of native vegetation into pastures for livestock and farmland. Soy cultivation is practiced mainly around the edges of the region. Human activities have caused the loss of biodiversity and a significant release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to possible regional and global climate change.

    Sources: UN Environment Program (UNEP), The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), Ministério do Meio Ambiente (MMA).