The 7,000km journey that links Amazon destruction to fast food

[Massacure]

http://business.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329451360-108725,00.html

Apparently Cargill, grows soy in South America on land which used to be rain forest but was slashed and burned. The soy is used for chicken feed, which McDonalds uses for their chicken nuggets. The article says 28,000 hectares of forest were felled in the last two years, and replaced with soy farms. I wonder how long the farms will operate though. I hear that the soil isn't terribly great in the rain forests.

This and the fact that food makes people fat. People shouldn't eat at McDonalds.

[mike_c]

1. the "soil" likely serves as little more than substrate for the roots...

...and even then is probably highly amended to keep it from compacting into an impenetrable hardpan. But agriculture can be done on lateritic tropical rainforest soils just fine as long as all the nutrients are supplied artificially after the first crop or two. Think tons of fertilizer and massive energy subsidies. Oh, and lots of environmental damage.