Fair Bank Guide Netherlands has published a new case study on agribusiness lobbying: «How the Netherlands finances agrilobby in Brazil. A case study for the Fair Bank Guide Netherlands 21-03-2024”.[1] This document, prepared by the Ruralists Observatory of Brazil, illustrates one of the challenges faced by President Lula in his first year of government when he attempted to veto provisions of a bill aimed at hindering the exercise of indigenous peoples’ rights to their lands. The strategy was carefully designed and implemented by the agribusiness lobby and organized through the Instituto Pensar Agro (Think Agro Institute) (IPA) and the Frente Parlamentario del Agronegocio (Parliamentary Front for Agribusiness).
The study examines the links between Dutch financial institutions and 18 IPA members: ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus, COFCO, and AMAGGI, dedicated to soy and palm oil production; Coamo, Olam, Mitsubishi, Tentos do Sul, and Jotabasso (soy production); Marfrig, Minerva, and JBS (meat); Suzano, Klabin, Marubeni, and Stora Enso (pulp and paper). It highlights their joint collaboration in agribusiness lobbying activities. The study notes that during the period 2019-2023, the three main Dutch banks, Rabobank, ABN Amro, and ING Group, provided $1.89 billion in financing to these 18 key agribusiness actors. Rabobank was responsible for 86% of all transactions conducted by Dutch financial institutions in Brazil during this period, making it the largest financier.[2]
The study demonstrates how these companies, either individually or through coordinated and strategic actions, seek to influence political and legislative decisions in favor of IPA and FPA, thereby weakening or blocking legislative initiatives for social and environmental protection.
Several of the companies studied also operate in Bolivia, forming part of organizations such as the Santa Cruz Agricultural Development Foundation (FUNDACRUZ), the Association of Agricultural Input Suppliers (APIA), and the Bolivian Association of Suppliers of Agricultural and Livestock Inputs, Goods, and Services (APRISA). These associations engage in lobbying activities and also have supporting institutions such as the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE) and associations like the Agricultural Chamber of the East, the Technical Committee on Biotechnology (CTB) of the College of Agronomist Engineers of Santa Cruz (CIACRUZ), the Seed Technical Committee (COTESE), and others.
FUNDACRUZ is linked to the Mato Grosso Foundation, created in 1993 by a group of 23 producers from Mato Grosso, Brazil, among whom Blairo Maggi (Maggi Group), Sergio Marchett, and Julio Cambruzzi from Mónica Semillas stand out, a company that originated in Mato Grosso and relocated to Bolivia.[3]
The Association of Agricultural Input Suppliers (APIA) has affiliates such as Monsanto, BASF Bolivia, Dow AgroSciences, Syngenta, Monica Semillas, and Bayer Bolivia, among 62 members importing agricultural inputs[4]. APIA represents Bolivia in Croplife Latin America, which presents itself as the industry of «Crop Science.» Among its members are significant affiliated companies: Syngenta, FMC, Bayer, BASF, Sumitomo Chemical, and Corteva Agriscience. It indicates as a strategic priority: «Promote and support laws that, with scientific criteria, adopt appropriate regulatory frameworks and ensure respect for intellectual property, which must be compatible with globally accepted commercial standards for the protection of crops, biotechnology, biological products, and all emerging technologies,» [5] meaning to ensure that countries enact regulations or, conversely, do not, in order to guarantee their businesses, for example, by preventing the prohibition of pesticides banned in other countries or pressuring the approval of genetically modified seeds. Its current director is José Perdomo, who was a senior official at DuPont, a company questioned for environmental, social impacts, and practices of information concealment.[6]
The agribusiness lobby employs various lobbying practices to ensure the achievement of its interests, including the utilization of agribusiness politicians and corporate lobbying to the detriment of collective interests such as health, land, indigenous rights, and consumer rights. The study defines an interest group as any association of individuals or organizations that, «based on one or more shared concerns, seeks to influence public policy in its favor. They are united by the defense of a specific agenda, not necessarily linked to a particular political party or organization.»
According to the published study, the shared ideology is that the production and export of agricultural commodities are the cornerstone of the economy. Their priorities include modernizing labor, land, and tax legislation, as well as regulating indigenous lands and rural black communities to ensure the legal framework required for the sector to be competitive.[7]
In 2005, the agribusiness lobby in Bolivia, which was part of the government at that time, attempted to implement the «Strategy of the Fait Accompli,» which had successfully secured the approval of transgenic soybeans in Brazil after years of fierce resistance. In Bolivia, however, this strategy did not work, so the glyphosate-resistant soy event was approved by hastily removing the press and those who questioned the procedure without rebutting the arguments presented.[8] Since then and up to the present (2024), the agribusiness lobby has tried various strategies to approve transgenic events, particularly, but not only in maize. Choosing a peasant representative in their associations, issuing threats, celebrating the change of government in 2019, are some of their methods. In 2020, they achieved the unrestricted approval of several crops, which was revoked in the current administration. But their attempts have not ceased.
In 2022, the Association of Agricultural Input Suppliers (APIA) recommended making efforts to keep the National Biotechnology Committee operational: «which is achieved by submitting requests for the approval of new events, according to the procedure outlined in DS 24676» and recommended submitting requests for the approval of genetically modified wheat and sugarcane events because «they do not have wild relatives in Bolivian territory, to avoid possible objections regarding the release of these crops into the environment.» It also suggested that the requests «be for events developed by public or non-profit entities, to avoid possible biases against international private companies.» It also stated that they had analyzed various strategies, such as the proposal of the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE) to carry out a communication campaign in favor of biotechnology in agriculture, the proposal of biotechnologist María Mercedes Roca to draft the «Bolivia 4 bios» law, the proposal of companies owning GMO events to work on laws rather than decrees for their legal security, proposals for patent protection and mechanisms for rescuing investment in transgenic events, and the proposal of a law to expedite the approval of studies approved in countries that have authorized them[9]. This is a mechanism to bypass biotechnology research while pledging to adhere to what other countries dictate despite their self-designation as representatives of «Crop Science».
Agribusiness has no problem obtaining financing, even from the World Bank, as happened in 2004 when Blairo Maggi’s company, the world’s largest individual soy producer, former governor, and former minister in Temer’s government in Brazil, obtained financing from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private arm. In 2023, the Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) granted a loan of 498.2 million reais to five companies in Mato Grosso. The largest loan of 250 million reais was for Agropecuaria Maggi Ltda, the company of the family of former governor Blairo Maggi.
In May 2023, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), after consulting with interested sectors, published the document: «Assessment of the Regulatory and Institutional Framework for Agricultural Gene Editing Technologies Based on CRISPR[10] in Latin America and the Caribbean»[11], technologies it considers a bank of possibilities for agriculture. To this end, the document evaluates regulatory systems with a view to defining the bank’s investment priorities, which include primarily the modification of laws. In this regard, the National Association of Oilseed Producers (ANAPO) stated: «In our case, we were chosen to provide information on these elements and express the interest of producers in having these new tools that biotechnology is making available to farmers worldwide… The positions of actors opposed to the adoption of these technologies in our countries are also being analyzed.»
Regarding Bolivia, the IDB study states: «The Government of Bolivia approved two new events of transgenic soybeans in 2019 and was considering the approval of maize and cotton. The political crisis in 2019 triggered the paralysis of many processes, including the approval of these two new events. At present, the only genetically modified seed for cultivation in Bolivia is a glyphosate-resistant soybean event.» It also highlights what it considers the contrast between «the most developed sectors of biotechnology, sugarcane, and biofuels in Brazil and the less developed and less ‘biotechnology-friendly’ context of Bolivia.»
It also emphasizes that «the eastern Bolivian region of Santa Cruz, where most of the sugarcane is grown, is under the enormous influence of Brazilian agricultural entrepreneurs and can quickly adopt transgenic sugarcane varieties (or genetically edited non-transgenic ones)» developed in Brazil.
It estimates that in the Santa Cruz department, there are around 800,000 ha available for potential sugarcane cultivation, and currently, 20% of this area is cultivated. Among the problems for increasing this area, it points out the need for «greater herbicide rotation, greater use of pre-emergents in sugarcane plantations, and the possibility of adopting transgenic sugarcane,» despite the productive potential of the varieties grown in Santa Cruz highlighted by the same study.
Bolivia is the leading country in per capita primary forest loss. The world’s tropical forest loss ranks it third, after Indonesia and Brazil. This deforestation is due to the expansion of the agricultural frontier. Companies like Cargill buy soybeans from the Chiquitano Dry Forest, one of the areas most devastated by forest fires by Mennonite colonies. And they plan to continue doing so, according to Global Witness.[12]
Financial institutions have the power to influence policies, legislation, and public opinion through their investments, loans, and cooperation, as «knowledge actors». They also affect the supply chain of forest-risk products and risks to human rights. Banks have stakes in companies linked to deforestation, as reported by Global Witness in 2024, with reference to European banks that financed Bunge, Cargill, ADM, Chinese companies like COFCO, Sinochem Group, the Korean POSCO, Louis Dreyfus, just to name a few.[13]
What are the implications of the relationships between agribusiness (companies and banks) and the parliamentary lobby of Brazil in Bolivia? And what role is the Multilateral Development Bank assuming in this lobby? Financing for agribusiness should be excluded from the alignment with the Paris Agreement that multilateral banks will turn into policy and should also apply to private banking.
[1] Bassi, B., Castilho, A. Olho nos Ruralistas, (2024) How the Netherlands finances agrilobby in Brazil A case study for the Fair Bank Guide Netherlands 21-03-2024. Fair Bank Guide. Netherlands
[2] Ibid
[3] Mato Grosso modificó una variedad de soya. Junio 2009. Portafolio. Noticias económicas de Colombia y el mundo, visitado en 01-04-24 https://www.portafolio.co/economia/finanzas/mato-grosso-modifico-variedad-soya-426150
Memoria Institucional 2023. APIA. Marzo 2024, visitado en 01-04-24
4. Quienes somos? https://croplifela.org/es, visitado en 01-04-24
[5] Quienes somos? https://croplifela.org/es, visitado en 01-04-24
6 Du Pont es una empresa que se mueve en el área de química, nuevos materiales, biotecnología y agricultura, ha sido reiteradamente cuestionada y enfrenta juicios por contaminación ambiental debido a la gestión de desechos tóxicos y sustancias químicas peligrosas en sus fábricas, incluyendo el teflón (utilizado en recubrimientos antiadherentes) y el C8, utilizado en la fabricación de productos como el Teflon y el poliéster. También por malas condiciones de seguridad y salud ocupacional que han derivado en accidentes laborales y riesgos para los trabajadores. Enfrenta litigios por haber ocultado riesgos para la salud de sus productos, ha generado controversias y críticas por sus prácticas sobre patentes. Por los impactos ambientales y sociales causados es cuestionada en su responsabilidad social y corporativa y sus prácticas de sostenibilidad. https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-51779863
7 Bassi, B., Castilho, A. Olho nos Ruralistas, (2024) How the Netherlands finances agrilobby in Brazil A case study for the Fair Bank Guide Netherlands 21-03-2024. Fair Bank Guide. Netherlands
[8] P. Molina. 2015. APIA y el agronegocio en la estrategia del Hecho Consumado: De cómo Bernays y Goebbels aportan a la nueva campaña por aprobar transgénicos en Bolivia. Servicio de Noticias Ambientales-FOBOMADE
[9] Memoria Institucional 2022. APIA. Marzo 2023, visitado en 01-04-24
[10] Tecnología de edición genética que permite realizar cambios en el ADN de organismos vivos, incluidos humanos, plantas y animales.
[11] Zarate, Sebastian, Cimadori, Ilaria, Roca, Maria Mercedes, Jones, Michael S. Barnhill-Dilling, Katie, Marzo 2023. Tecnología de edición genética que permite realizar cambios precisos en el ADN de organismos vivos, incluidos humanos, plantas y animales. Documento para discusión No IDB-DP-00995. División de Medio Ambiente, Desarrollo Rurral y Riesgos pro Desastres.BID.
[12] Global Witness. Empty promises: Cargill, soy, banks and the destruction of Bolivia’s Chiquitano forest
[13] Global Witness. March 2024. The credit chainsaw: A review of how EU-based banks are pouring billions into deforestation. https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/empty-promises-cargill-soy/
