WEBVTT - Into the Amazon 0:00:17.242 --> 0:00:17.802 Pushken. 0:00:26.682 --> 0:00:29.562 The first time I visited Lucas of Virgin Matu Gruso 0:00:29.922 --> 0:00:33.962 was in May twenty twenty five. On my first day there, 0:00:34.122 --> 0:00:37.562 I decided to head over to Bruce Raster's Ethano Refinery 0:00:37.922 --> 0:00:43.362 FS Fueling Sustainability to take some photos. Today had down 0:00:43.442 --> 0:00:47.402 a bit cloudy, but it was hot over thirty degrees celsius. 0:00:48.042 --> 0:00:51.642 After lunch, a cold wind started blowing. At three in 0:00:51.682 --> 0:00:55.082 the afternoon. When I was outside the refinery, the sky 0:00:55.202 --> 0:00:59.802 suddenly darkened, the wind started wheeping up sand, and everything 0:00:59.842 --> 0:01:03.402 turned reddish. I managed to film a few seconds off 0:01:03.402 --> 0:01:06.642 the scene before rushing into my car. The wind was 0:01:06.682 --> 0:01:10.202 shaking the Imperial palm trees violently, and I was afraid 0:01:10.282 --> 0:01:14.081 one of them might follow me. On my drive back 0:01:14.122 --> 0:01:17.761 to the hotel, I saw palm branches scattered across the road, 0:01:18.362 --> 0:01:22.722 a fallen utility pole, and a torn billboard. Then the 0:01:22.881 --> 0:01:26.682 rain came and the temperature dropped to about fifteen degrees. 0:01:28.081 --> 0:01:30.841 I kept wondering if that had been an extreme event, 0:01:31.282 --> 0:01:32.842 or if this happened all the time. 0:01:33.842 --> 0:01:36.642 Wonder she get when I read here It's prayed for 0:01:36.722 --> 0:01:39.722 six months and was stunning for six months. 0:01:40.402 --> 0:01:43.282 The Mozilla Santus is an organic farmer who has lived 0:01:43.282 --> 0:01:46.122 in the region for twenty two years. She says that 0:01:46.241 --> 0:01:49.442 everything is now hotter and more stifling, and she has 0:01:49.482 --> 0:01:53.802 a hunch as to why most we no longer have. 0:01:53.882 --> 0:01:55.962 That tall dance vegetations. 0:01:56.362 --> 0:01:59.362 That's where it cools down, That's where debris comes. 0:01:59.362 --> 0:01:59.802 True. 0:02:00.482 --> 0:02:03.682 Now it's just fields, just fields. 0:02:03.482 --> 0:02:07.082 Clearing, more and more clearing, more and more clearing, more 0:02:07.122 --> 0:02:11.602 and more planting, just planting, That's what happens. 0:02:12.202 --> 0:02:16.401 This is also reflected in the data on as when 0:02:16.402 --> 0:02:19.802 i callde front advances, it displaces the hot, dry air 0:02:19.962 --> 0:02:23.762 over the region, also generating very strong wind gusts. 0:02:24.402 --> 0:02:27.482 With the large area of dry loose soil, dust is 0:02:27.562 --> 0:02:29.602 kicked up and creates sandstorms. 0:02:30.922 --> 0:02:34.602 An Apollo Pies is a meteorologist and climate analysis consultant 0:02:34.682 --> 0:02:37.362 with the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil. 0:02:37.602 --> 0:02:41.282 Lucas do Healvas Lucas do Hillviage has been experiencing this 0:02:41.482 --> 0:02:44.762 more frequently because it is in an area of agricultural 0:02:44.882 --> 0:02:49.842 expansion with large tracks of exposed soil during the dry season, 0:02:50.282 --> 0:02:52.561 which facilitates this type of phenomenon. 0:02:53.122 --> 0:02:56.082 She says, the more open land there is, the greater 0:02:56.362 --> 0:03:00.602 chance of windstorms like I soil Lucas als missing Quinta 0:03:00.762 --> 0:03:01.922 by twenty fifty. 0:03:02.162 --> 0:03:06.642 The trend is towards hot days, drier and longer seasons, 0:03:06.802 --> 0:03:10.842 and rainfall more concentrate in extreme events. 0:03:11.202 --> 0:03:12.002 Lucas do juveg. 0:03:12.362 --> 0:03:17.202 This means more challenge for agriculture management, greater pressure on 0:03:17.322 --> 0:03:21.322 water resources, and a need for urban adaptation such as 0:03:21.362 --> 0:03:26.042 street planting, soil management and strategies to reduce heat islands. 0:03:27.442 --> 0:03:30.922 Lucas markets itself as a city of opportunities because of 0:03:31.042 --> 0:03:35.282 agribusiness and its promise of a sustainable future. It's also 0:03:35.282 --> 0:03:38.282 why people like Bruce and the Fronts Brothers, his partners 0:03:38.282 --> 0:03:42.482 in the Brazilian corner Eathanal Business moved there. But what 0:03:42.602 --> 0:03:45.562 that storm of wind and sand show me was another 0:03:45.682 --> 0:03:50.522 side of lucas relationship with agribusiness, and it connects the 0:03:50.562 --> 0:03:56.242 city directly to Bruce's legacy in Iowa. I'm Philip Sabrina. 0:03:55.642 --> 0:03:57.802 And I'm Ammy Westervelt. 0:03:57.362 --> 0:03:58.442 And this is Cowboys. 0:03:58.482 --> 0:04:00.562 You say, how do carbon Cowboys? 0:04:00.802 --> 0:04:04.722 A podcast that tells the story of Hawaii US agribusiness 0:04:04.762 --> 0:04:09.882 tycoon managed to expand industrial agriculture in Brazil by promising 0:04:10.042 --> 0:04:11.202 to protect the client. 0:04:20.722 --> 0:04:21.962 Modelo Quine. 0:04:22.282 --> 0:04:24.282 The put Sandyarch Fruit. 0:04:24.122 --> 0:04:27.722 Project was a model for producing fruits and vegetables fresh produce. 0:04:28.402 --> 0:04:32.482 We wanted to move towards agro ecological and organic practices 0:04:32.842 --> 0:04:34.762 so we wouldn't have to use pesticides right. 0:04:36.242 --> 0:04:40.282 Nilfl Lancher is a farmer from Santa Catarina. He's lived 0:04:40.282 --> 0:04:43.002 with his wife, Ilaria one Hear on a small farm 0:04:43.042 --> 0:04:45.962 in Lucas since two thousand and seven. It's roughly the 0:04:45.962 --> 0:04:49.322 size of five soccer fields. The property is located in 0:04:49.362 --> 0:04:52.562 a rural settlement and half of it is designated as 0:04:52.562 --> 0:04:57.002 an environmental reserve. There they built a small paradise of 0:04:57.122 --> 0:05:01.522 pesticide free food, both for their own consumption and for sale. 0:05:01.882 --> 0:05:04.121 The farm was part of a larger project to create 0:05:04.122 --> 0:05:08.041 settlements for thirty farming families. But over the years, with 0:05:08.082 --> 0:05:15.522 the advance of monoculture farming, of these small farms have survived, and. 0:05:15.482 --> 0:05:17.802 Those settlements in the region where no one ever imagined 0:05:17.802 --> 0:05:20.322 soybeans and corn would enter today they have. 0:05:21.122 --> 0:05:24.362 The spread of these monoculture crops has brought the pesticides 0:05:24.402 --> 0:05:27.362 they were trying to keep at bay closer to them. 0:05:27.682 --> 0:05:31.322 The wind spreads these chemicals over the small farmers fields 0:05:31.362 --> 0:05:35.202 and contaminates their food. In the case of Nilpo and Ilaria, 0:05:35.722 --> 0:05:39.682 this has undermined the couple's production. The insects trying to 0:05:39.802 --> 0:05:43.802 escape the poison from the monoculture crops also end up 0:05:43.882 --> 0:05:47.402 in the fields of Nilpho and Ilaria and other families 0:05:47.402 --> 0:05:48.122 in the settlement. 0:05:51.562 --> 0:05:55.642 Even the lemons or lemon trees died. Citrus doesn't last here. 0:05:56.002 --> 0:05:58.202 It doesn't last more than five or six years here. 0:05:58.842 --> 0:06:02.522 The avocados that are blooming now, they're blooming, but they're 0:06:02.562 --> 0:06:05.002 not sailing fruit. We don't know if it's something to 0:06:05.042 --> 0:06:09.362 do with the climate or the region or pollination. You 0:06:09.402 --> 0:06:13.162 hardly see any bees all all because of the pesticides. 0:06:14.282 --> 0:06:17.322 Even the water in their settlement is drying up. 0:06:17.682 --> 0:06:22.562 They comutari before we pass out for sustain Malada. 0:06:22.882 --> 0:06:25.562 We have a community well, but we've been without water 0:06:25.602 --> 0:06:28.722 since yesterday. If it weren't from my well, there'd be 0:06:28.722 --> 0:06:33.242 no way to water anything. Our production here isn't commercials. 0:06:35.242 --> 0:06:38.322 The Rio Verde no longer fills the reservoir where it 0:06:38.442 --> 0:06:41.882 used to maintain the water level during the drough This 0:06:41.922 --> 0:06:44.202 is also due to the drainage of the water table 0:06:44.802 --> 0:06:47.882 where they dug drainage channels to plant soybeans, so that 0:06:48.002 --> 0:06:50.482 sponge like layer that used to hold water to release 0:06:50.602 --> 0:06:53.962 during the drought has shrunk significantly. We know this has 0:06:54.002 --> 0:06:56.202 a huge impact, but. 0:06:56.122 --> 0:07:00.522 The problems don't just affect Milfo and other small scale farmers. 0:07:00.842 --> 0:07:04.682 They affect the whole city. An analysis conducted by Info 0:07:04.762 --> 0:07:08.601 Amazonia and Tatianamura is a researcher at the Climate and 0:07:08.642 --> 0:07:12.522 Health Observatory of the Oswaldo Cruise Foundation, shows that a 0:07:12.602 --> 0:07:15.762 child born in Lucas do Rio Vergi has a twenty 0:07:15.962 --> 0:07:20.402 percent higher risk of being born with congenital anomalies than 0:07:20.442 --> 0:07:23.642 a child born in another city in the same state, 0:07:23.762 --> 0:07:27.162 six hundred and seventy kilometers away. They say the reason 0:07:27.242 --> 0:07:31.722 for this is the widespread presence of industrial agriculture in Lucas. 0:07:33.402 --> 0:07:38.162 Lucas now has thousands of hectors of monoculture crops like cotton, soy, 0:07:38.282 --> 0:07:43.082 and corn. These crops use an incredible amount of pesticides. 0:07:45.762 --> 0:07:50.762 The contamination is intense in the water, the air, the soil, 0:07:51.402 --> 0:07:56.402 and the people. Everything is contaminated and the effects are 0:07:56.442 --> 0:08:00.322 felt directly by the population. As in the case you 0:08:00.362 --> 0:08:02.722 may be familiar with it of breast milk. 0:08:04.162 --> 0:08:08.322 Professor Debra Carleros is a biologist for the Federal Public 0:08:08.322 --> 0:08:12.602 Prosecutor's Office of Monto Grosso do Sul. She researches pesticides 0:08:12.602 --> 0:08:15.962 in the environment. The case of breast milk she mentions 0:08:16.122 --> 0:08:21.242 was reported on national television. Ahead is That study conducted 0:08:21.282 --> 0:08:24.322 with sixty two breastfeeding mothers in Matto Grosso, revealed that 0:08:24.402 --> 0:08:29.242 all of their milk was contaminated. In addition to finding 0:08:29.282 --> 0:08:33.402 pesticides in all milk samples from the mothers who participated 0:08:33.401 --> 0:08:36.962 in the study, the researchers also discovered that in some 0:08:37.042 --> 0:08:41.401 cases there were six types of pesticides, including one that 0:08:41.401 --> 0:08:47.282 has been banned for over a decade. That study was 0:08:47.322 --> 0:08:51.881 published in twenty eleven. Professor Wanderley Pignatty from the Federal 0:08:51.962 --> 0:08:55.362 University of Manto Grosso was involved in the study. He 0:08:55.401 --> 0:08:59.361 says the problem has not gone away aglage cause. 0:08:59.122 --> 0:09:01.561 Of the main cause is the heavy use of pesticides 0:09:01.602 --> 0:09:05.002 that contaminate the water, the air, the rain and the 0:09:05.002 --> 0:09:06.122 food people are eating. 0:09:06.801 --> 0:09:09.722 Needful one share says that the larger producers, the ones 0:09:09.722 --> 0:09:13.442 who have made Lucas fass As an agricultural leader, could 0:09:13.521 --> 0:09:16.122 help small farmers like him. And it's at this point 0:09:16.202 --> 0:09:18.881 that he mentioned some names we've heard before. 0:09:19.561 --> 0:09:23.521 Now he sie Sichjievo your grande proudors. 0:09:25.722 --> 0:09:28.521 There is no incentive for a large scale farmer who 0:09:28.561 --> 0:09:32.161 has accumulated land there, who could say, no, I'll make 0:09:32.202 --> 0:09:34.641 a point of it here and subdivide that land for 0:09:34.722 --> 0:09:38.962 twenty families to grow vegetables and everything. The former mayor himself, 0:09:39.281 --> 0:09:44.002 who is from Fia grill Miguel right, I mean Marino 0:09:44.041 --> 0:09:47.881 Franz Mano, Julio Paolo. They have a lot of land. 0:09:48.521 --> 0:09:51.162 Instead of giving up for something like this, they want 0:09:51.161 --> 0:09:51.722 to buy more. 0:09:53.242 --> 0:09:58.202 Marino, Paolo and Miguel are Bruce Rastutter's partners in Brazil. 0:09:58.602 --> 0:10:02.962 Together they founded FS in Lucas ten years ago. The 0:10:03.041 --> 0:10:10.362 company throws the word sustainability into its ads whenever it can. 0:10:12.761 --> 0:10:16.362 Ajolda my sustinkda thanks. 0:10:17.002 --> 0:10:20.362 Hoping to make the planet increasingly sustainable has been one 0:10:20.362 --> 0:10:23.562 of the main goals of major industries which are working 0:10:23.641 --> 0:10:26.761 towards a better net zero carbon world. 0:10:27.641 --> 0:10:31.602 FS was founded with this purpose in mind. When Marino 0:10:31.761 --> 0:10:35.282 was mayor, Milfo spoke with his administration about a dream 0:10:35.561 --> 0:10:38.722 of building a green belt in the area. Miilfo's wife, 0:10:38.761 --> 0:10:42.361 Ilaria says the deputy mayor at the time, a businessman 0:10:42.482 --> 0:10:48.962 in the home appliance industry, discouraged the project Eli. She 0:10:49.002 --> 0:10:52.081 says he told Milfo, you'll never be able to do it. 0:10:56.881 --> 0:11:00.401 Bruce and his partners say they started almost from scratch 0:11:00.641 --> 0:11:04.722 as small farmers and celebrate their rags to riches, success 0:11:04.761 --> 0:11:08.482 stories and agribusiness whenever they can. But in the city 0:11:08.521 --> 0:11:11.842 they chose as the birthplace of their empire. In Brazil, 0:11:12.602 --> 0:11:15.521 farms like theirs are crushing the dreams of small farmers, 0:11:15.962 --> 0:11:19.002 much like what happened back in Iowa. As you heard 0:11:19.082 --> 0:11:20.122 in episode two. 0:11:20.521 --> 0:11:24.641 Oh Leasie Lily Fallo ele American. 0:11:26.482 --> 0:11:26.881 Polo. 0:11:26.962 --> 0:11:30.442 He says he's American. He took courses and everything studied 0:11:30.482 --> 0:11:34.122 in the United States, so he has this capitalist mindset 0:11:34.161 --> 0:11:36.602 where he thinks that's how it is that we all 0:11:36.602 --> 0:11:39.482 depend on him, that the jobs he creates or won't matter. 0:11:40.082 --> 0:11:42.161 But he forgets to start in a company like this 0:11:42.202 --> 0:11:46.082 should also be about making food production a priority, but 0:11:46.161 --> 0:11:51.722 for him was sustainable, was economic development, It's agribusiness. 0:11:53.002 --> 0:11:56.802 In August twenty twenty five, when Philippe went to interview Mielfel, 0:11:56.881 --> 0:12:00.041 and Ilaria for the second time at their settlement. They 0:12:00.082 --> 0:12:02.602 had just returned from the market. Some of the food 0:12:02.602 --> 0:12:06.002 they bought they actually grow on the farm, but the 0:12:06.041 --> 0:12:09.641 plants no longer produce enough to cover their household needs. 0:12:13.722 --> 0:12:17.761 This is the vision of a sustainable future that agribusiness 0:12:17.881 --> 0:12:22.401 is creating in Lucas. Cory Melby, the American agricultural consultant 0:12:22.482 --> 0:12:25.562 we heard from earlier in the season, says corn has 0:12:25.722 --> 0:12:29.002 transformed Monto Grosso over the past decade and it was 0:12:29.041 --> 0:12:30.682 all Marino Franz's plan. 0:12:31.401 --> 0:12:34.641 The cornet all is what doubled land prices the past 0:12:36.202 --> 0:12:40.562 decade in Montro Grosso. Marino friends, you know Paulo's brother there, 0:12:40.962 --> 0:12:43.402 I had investors. I mean, I was taking hedge fund 0:12:43.401 --> 0:12:45.322 guys around and it was the mayor at the time, 0:12:45.401 --> 0:12:48.082 and he was giving me all these cool little charts 0:12:48.122 --> 0:12:53.042 with a two hundred kilometer radius around Lucas. And he 0:12:53.202 --> 0:12:55.722 was the first to tell us by twenty twenty, Montre 0:12:55.722 --> 0:12:58.242 Grosso will be to produced in fifty million tons or 0:12:58.281 --> 0:13:01.881 corn everything in this radius, everything around Marino. You're fucking 0:13:01.921 --> 0:13:05.082 folly shit, I said, no way in hell is Montre 0:13:05.082 --> 0:13:07.761 groser going to produce fifty million times in a decade. 0:13:08.401 --> 0:13:10.482 How wrong I was. 0:13:12.002 --> 0:13:15.802 They've turned Matto Grosso into a whole corn utopia. But 0:13:15.962 --> 0:13:19.441 it's not enough. Bruce and the guys wanted more. They 0:13:19.442 --> 0:13:22.362 started eyeing land near the Amazon River. 0:13:23.281 --> 0:13:25.202 I kind of told them not to go there to 0:13:25.242 --> 0:13:26.961 begin with, and then they asked me with on a 0:13:27.002 --> 0:13:29.922 tour to help interpret because they wanted to buy more land. 0:13:29.962 --> 0:13:31.162 I said, you probably shouldn't. 0:13:31.962 --> 0:13:34.401 It's not for grangos to start there. 0:13:34.842 --> 0:13:40.202 That's for experienced braziliance with a plethora of lawyers behind them. 0:13:40.801 --> 0:13:44.282 Bruce didn't take Corey's advice, but he still tried to 0:13:44.322 --> 0:13:48.962 be discreet. Except we found his flag planted in A'mapa 0:13:49.161 --> 0:13:52.322 on four thousand hectares of land in the heart of 0:13:52.362 --> 0:14:05.881 the Amazon. That story is coming up after the break. 0:14:07.962 --> 0:14:12.281 Yeah, Como Prince Sada and this the and Aeroba communities 0:14:12.322 --> 0:14:16.642 squeezes him between these agribusinesses. It's a community of lake fishermen, 0:14:16.881 --> 0:14:18.682 but they've practically lost all their land. 0:14:19.922 --> 0:14:23.042 Father Sisto Magro is Italian but has lived in Brazil 0:14:23.122 --> 0:14:27.162 since nineteen eighty nine. For eighteen years he's worked for 0:14:27.242 --> 0:14:31.282 the Pastoral Land Commission in Amappa with the territories of 0:14:31.402 --> 0:14:36.601 traditional peoples and communities. The Anderobo community he Mentions is 0:14:36.722 --> 0:14:40.242 one of these territories. It has about three hundred inhabitants 0:14:40.362 --> 0:14:43.681 and is located in the rural area of the municipality 0:14:43.842 --> 0:14:47.402 of Rattarugalzino, about two hundred and thirty kilometers from the 0:14:47.482 --> 0:14:48.602 capital Macapa. 0:14:49.922 --> 0:14:52.482 Comeso Partidos miris migos. 0:14:52.561 --> 0:14:56.681 Starting in twenty eleven twenty twelve, agribusinesses began moving an 0:14:56.842 --> 0:14:59.922 en mass right in the logging sector as well as 0:14:59.922 --> 0:15:02.562 in agriculture, specifically soybean monoculture. 0:15:03.522 --> 0:15:06.922 The Salmon Will Farm is one of the agribusinesses squeezing 0:15:07.162 --> 0:15:11.762 the residents of Andaroba between soybean and cornfields. The property 0:15:11.802 --> 0:15:15.402 spans four thousand hectares and has a direct connection to 0:15:15.482 --> 0:15:19.441 Bruce Rastetter. While sifting through documents, father she still gave 0:15:19.522 --> 0:15:22.762 him Flippi ended up at the thirtar Uga Zennial Registry 0:15:22.842 --> 0:15:25.682 office twice looking for more papers. 0:15:26.882 --> 0:15:29.922 Jobon's Documents Usincza. The thing was, no, I would like 0:15:30.002 --> 0:15:32.922 to request some documents please, I have the numbers here. 0:15:33.362 --> 0:15:36.961 Can I tell you that? Okay? It's record two m 0:15:37.202 --> 0:15:41.602 page forty three, Book two. It's registration. Yeah, it's registration. 0:15:42.602 --> 0:15:46.681 The documents Philippe obtained show that a company owned by 0:15:46.882 --> 0:15:53.242 Lucas's mayor and Bruce's partner, Miguel Vaz Ribero, purchased Salmanuel 0:15:53.362 --> 0:15:57.482 Farm in November twenty sixteen. That same month and year, 0:15:57.642 --> 0:16:03.201 it sold the property to a second company, Salmanuel Agricola Limitada. 0:16:07.842 --> 0:16:10.522 Documents from the time show that one of the partners 0:16:10.681 --> 0:16:16.962 in company was would you believe it, Summit Salmanuel LLC, 0:16:17.602 --> 0:16:20.722 based in Iowa in the United States, at the same 0:16:20.802 --> 0:16:25.482 address as Bruce's office. The other partner in the company 0:16:25.642 --> 0:16:28.242 was a firm owned by a co founder of FS 0:16:28.522 --> 0:16:32.321 and the CEO of FS. And here's a really important detail. 0:16:32.842 --> 0:16:38.522 In twenty seventeen, Salmonuel Agricola LIMITAA pledged the Salmonuel Farm 0:16:38.722 --> 0:16:42.922 as collateral for a nearly six million dollar debt owed 0:16:43.042 --> 0:16:48.561 to Bruce's Summit Salmanuel LLC. The debt is due in 0:16:48.681 --> 0:16:52.402 November of this year. If the debt isn't paid, the 0:16:52.522 --> 0:16:56.642 four thousand Hector farm, planted with corn and soybeans, could 0:16:56.722 --> 0:17:00.922 pass entirely into the hands of corn ethanol magnate Bruce Rastetter. 0:17:01.522 --> 0:17:05.402 It's worth noting here that in Brazil, foreigners faced various 0:17:05.482 --> 0:17:09.882 restrictions on buying land, and that's especially true in the Amazon. 0:17:11.122 --> 0:17:14.762 Property is used to settle a debt, things work a 0:17:14.802 --> 0:17:21.442 little differently. To get the environmental permits it needed to 0:17:21.522 --> 0:17:24.922 plant large scale farms a few kilometers from the homes 0:17:25.002 --> 0:17:29.161 in Anderoba, Salmonuel Agricola had to get the consent of 0:17:29.282 --> 0:17:30.482 the community. 0:17:32.841 --> 0:17:34.321 Losto scale. 0:17:34.442 --> 0:17:37.242 They sent an invitation to our principal, the manager of 0:17:37.321 --> 0:17:40.682 the Salmonoel farm, saying there would be a public hearing, 0:17:41.042 --> 0:17:43.962 that various organizations would be present and that it would 0:17:43.962 --> 0:17:45.961 be good for the community to hear what they had 0:17:46.042 --> 0:17:48.802 to say the benefits they would bring to the community. 0:17:50.882 --> 0:17:54.962 This is Jenil se Gonsalves Patoja talking with Philippe and 0:17:55.202 --> 0:18:00.282 Marcia Hiberdosa, our audio producer in Anderoba. She's a resident 0:18:00.321 --> 0:18:03.522 there and a secretary at the school where a public 0:18:03.642 --> 0:18:06.681 hearing on the salmon Weel farm was held in September 0:18:06.802 --> 0:18:11.321 twenty twenty three. President were Salmonuel Agricola's farm direct and 0:18:11.482 --> 0:18:14.762 company employees, as well as public officials such as the 0:18:14.841 --> 0:18:19.202 State Secretary of Environment and the superintendent of the Amapa 0:18:19.642 --> 0:18:22.722 Institute of Historical and Artistic heritage. 0:18:24.922 --> 0:18:27.802 This was a public hearing for the company's licensing. It 0:18:27.922 --> 0:18:30.282 was the public hearing that would lead to the licensing. 0:18:30.962 --> 0:18:33.242 Did you understand that you were being consulted so the 0:18:33.361 --> 0:18:36.002 areas could be cleared? We didn't know that part. 0:18:36.121 --> 0:18:38.002 We knew it was a public hearing where they were 0:18:38.081 --> 0:18:41.802 presenting their case to the community. Because if it were 0:18:41.882 --> 0:18:44.802 up to us, the soybean plantation thing would be a 0:18:44.922 --> 0:18:47.522 tough sell, since we don't see any benefit. 0:18:49.361 --> 0:18:52.881 Jenisay and others that Philippi and Marcia interviewed at the 0:18:52.962 --> 0:18:56.641 Anderuba Community School say they didn't have enough information at 0:18:56.682 --> 0:19:00.441 the hearing to understand that this wasn't just a public 0:19:00.601 --> 0:19:04.002 meeting to learn about the project, that actually this meeting 0:19:04.042 --> 0:19:07.081 would decide whether or not the project happened, and that 0:19:07.442 --> 0:19:10.921 this was their chance to have a say. They all 0:19:11.162 --> 0:19:14.922 to say there was almost no room for public participation 0:19:15.361 --> 0:19:19.282 during the meetings. 0:19:20.162 --> 0:19:22.921 It ended up starting around ten am, and each statement 0:19:23.042 --> 0:19:26.242 had to be a maximum of three minutes. They were 0:19:26.282 --> 0:19:29.922 already asking Father Seesto to stop talking. Then I spoke 0:19:30.002 --> 0:19:33.841 for five minutes and enough enough. They didn't want to 0:19:33.882 --> 0:19:36.762 let me speak. Holding the meeting at ten am on 0:19:36.882 --> 0:19:44.402 a workday also limited participation. Look, there are plenty of children. 0:19:44.962 --> 0:19:48.401 There were more children than adults, So this public hearing 0:19:48.841 --> 0:19:52.282 for the issuance of an environmental permit plant soybeans and 0:19:52.442 --> 0:19:56.522 corn was composed for the most part of school kids. 0:19:56.922 --> 0:20:01.002 According to Jeninci in the Environmental Impact Studies Salmon. While 0:20:01.042 --> 0:20:04.121 Aricola submitted to the Department of the Environment to obtain 0:20:04.202 --> 0:20:08.121 its license, it argued that without the jobs created by 0:20:08.202 --> 0:20:12.282 the farm, the population of Enderova would lose its quality 0:20:12.321 --> 0:20:14.881 of life. They also said that this would lead to 0:20:15.042 --> 0:20:19.402 environmental degradation in the region due to hunting and resource extraction. 0:20:20.282 --> 0:20:23.601 If anyching Brie was a Chivik billow man satching bribus. 0:20:23.601 --> 0:20:26.442 Regarding jobs, we see that at least seven direct jobs 0:20:26.482 --> 0:20:28.442 will be created for this specific project. 0:20:29.601 --> 0:20:33.282 This is Lucas Space, the farm's director. In an interview 0:20:33.361 --> 0:20:35.361 he gave to a local website on the day of 0:20:35.402 --> 0:20:41.242 the hearing. Janie se Gonsalvez Pantoja disagrees lucul. 0:20:41.042 --> 0:20:43.722 Is if we don't see it creating jobs. Sometimes they 0:20:43.802 --> 0:20:47.202 look for people from outside doork within the community itself. 0:20:47.482 --> 0:20:50.482 There are many heads of households who need jobs but 0:20:50.642 --> 0:20:54.321 don't have them. So we don't see this benefit, this 0:20:54.482 --> 0:20:57.402 return they say they give to the community, We don't 0:20:57.442 --> 0:21:00.641 see it. Despite all of that, the public hearing was 0:21:00.722 --> 0:21:05.842 a success. After interviewing people from the Anderoba community, Philibe 0:21:05.962 --> 0:21:10.881 went to the capital, Makapa to speak with Amapa's environmental prosecutor, 0:21:11.522 --> 0:21:15.161 Marcelo Morreda. He asked him about the hearing held by 0:21:15.282 --> 0:21:17.442 Salmonuel Agricola. 0:21:20.321 --> 0:21:21.522 Lindao. 0:21:21.882 --> 0:21:25.881 The public hearing is crucial in theory, it's essential. But 0:21:26.002 --> 0:21:28.082 we didn't hear about the public hearing, and I think 0:21:28.121 --> 0:21:31.161 that's an indication that it wasn't widely publicized, but it 0:21:31.242 --> 0:21:34.881 didn't generate board participation. What we did hear about was 0:21:34.962 --> 0:21:38.482 its outcome through the Pastoral Land Commission, which is another 0:21:38.561 --> 0:21:39.162 sign right. 0:21:40.601 --> 0:21:44.601 Morreda emphasizes the damage that agriculture can cause in the 0:21:44.682 --> 0:21:49.802 region thanks to a peculiarity of the ecosystem itself. Although 0:21:49.882 --> 0:21:53.442 Amapa is in the Amazon, the salmon will farm is 0:21:53.522 --> 0:21:57.161 in a transition zone considered part of the sahato A 0:21:57.321 --> 0:22:00.881 remnant from thousands of years ago when the planet was drier, 0:22:01.601 --> 0:22:04.401 and this is strategic for business owners since in the 0:22:04.482 --> 0:22:09.682 Sejao biome by law, the area protected from deforestation is 0:22:09.802 --> 0:22:13.121 thirty five percent of property. That's a lot smaller than 0:22:13.242 --> 0:22:16.162 land in the Amazon, where you would have to set 0:22:16.202 --> 0:22:19.201 aside eighty percent of the property for conservation. 0:22:21.722 --> 0:22:25.002 The serrada within these Amazonian body and ice, along with 0:22:25.081 --> 0:22:28.641 this area of Makapa, which we call the resaka, a 0:22:28.722 --> 0:22:32.641 wetland or swamp. To the two Oga ducklings, we talk 0:22:32.682 --> 0:22:35.482 about the Amazon and only think of the forest, but 0:22:35.522 --> 0:22:38.762 when it comes to the wetland, it's like, oh, no, 0:22:39.081 --> 0:22:39.722 anything goes. 0:22:41.162 --> 0:22:43.962 The Salmon Will Farm had a fine of nearly nine 0:22:44.042 --> 0:22:48.562 million ray ice for illegal deforestation. The penalty was imposed 0:22:48.601 --> 0:22:52.322 in twenty nineteen, but even still, Bruce and his partners 0:22:52.402 --> 0:22:55.802 managed to obtain licenses to plant tons of corn and 0:22:55.922 --> 0:23:00.402 soybeans in the very same location where the environmental violation occurred. 0:23:01.002 --> 0:23:04.802 The operating license is valid until twenty thirty and the 0:23:04.962 --> 0:23:09.161 fine was waived this year after the break. What was 0:23:09.242 --> 0:23:12.522 so attractive for Bruce and the guys about the Amazon 0:23:12.762 --> 0:23:38.762 in the first place. After visiting Tartarugazino in Amapa, Philippi 0:23:38.762 --> 0:23:42.842 and Marcia went to Santana Island, twenty five kilometers from 0:23:42.922 --> 0:23:46.161 Makapa on the banks of the Amazon River. It's the 0:23:46.282 --> 0:23:51.882 site of Miguel Vaz and Marino Franz's new venture. See 0:23:52.002 --> 0:23:54.442 the thing that was most attractive about buying land in 0:23:54.522 --> 0:23:59.962 Amapa was its proximity to the Amazon River. Here's Corey again. 0:24:00.841 --> 0:24:02.762 You're at the most of the Amazon. You don't have 0:24:02.922 --> 0:24:05.802 all this Matro grossove bis to deal with with with 0:24:05.962 --> 0:24:09.802 with getting stuff to market, so to speak. You're at, 0:24:09.962 --> 0:24:13.282 You're at, You're already the market, so do speak now. 0:24:13.682 --> 0:24:17.282 Vaz and Franz are trying to expand agriculture along the 0:24:17.402 --> 0:24:21.122 Amazon River. They began by building a private terminal there 0:24:21.242 --> 0:24:24.081 to handle and store grains arriving from the mid northern 0:24:24.121 --> 0:24:27.561 region of Mato Grosso. The idea is to transform these 0:24:27.642 --> 0:24:31.522 grains into other products like feed meal and refined corn oil, 0:24:31.802 --> 0:24:34.242 and then export them to Europe, the Gulf of Mexico, 0:24:34.482 --> 0:24:39.642 the Caribbean, and the Guyanas. Their company, called Cianport Combania 0:24:39.722 --> 0:24:45.042 Norte de NAVAGASAUI Porthos, anticipates a handling capacity of two 0:24:45.361 --> 0:24:49.681 million tons of grain per year, storage for ninety thousand tons, 0:24:49.762 --> 0:24:52.802 and a loading and unloading capacity of two thousand tons 0:24:52.922 --> 0:24:57.922 per hour. Since twenty sixteen, Cianport has been operating grain 0:24:58.002 --> 0:25:01.401 transport at the Port of Santana across from the island, 0:25:02.002 --> 0:25:04.601 but we were focused on the other bank of the 0:25:04.682 --> 0:25:05.442 Amazon River. 0:25:06.081 --> 0:25:06.282 There. 0:25:06.561 --> 0:25:09.522 Vaz and Franz's third business partner in the port, a 0:25:09.601 --> 0:25:14.161 man named Claudio Jose Zancanado, or ze Gannadio, as the 0:25:14.242 --> 0:25:18.722 locals call him, had transformed a modest brick house into 0:25:18.802 --> 0:25:21.122 a port for international exports. 0:25:23.162 --> 0:25:26.642 Have you ever heard of someone named Claudi Jose Zancanado. 0:25:27.042 --> 0:25:30.722 Never. I've never heard my father mention him. My father 0:25:30.962 --> 0:25:34.082 was an influential man here. I've never heard of him. 0:25:34.642 --> 0:25:39.242 Maria Oswaldina Perea do Santos tells us to call her val. 0:25:39.882 --> 0:25:43.361 She's sixty two years old. She was born in Masagao, 0:25:43.442 --> 0:25:46.841 a nearby town, but was raised on Santana Island since 0:25:46.882 --> 0:25:49.402 she was a baby. She's one of the longest time 0:25:49.522 --> 0:25:55.121 residents here and had never met anyone named Claudio Jose Zancanado. However, 0:25:55.522 --> 0:25:59.442 in August twenty twelve, Zanganado sent a document to the 0:25:59.522 --> 0:26:03.722 Federal Heritage Superintendents stating that he'd been living in a 0:26:03.802 --> 0:26:07.242 house on the island since January of that year. It 0:26:07.361 --> 0:26:10.602 stood on a twenty hector plot facing the Amazon River. 0:26:12.042 --> 0:26:15.082 Built of brick and wood. The photos of the interior 0:26:15.121 --> 0:26:17.962 of the house attached to the case file show a 0:26:18.081 --> 0:26:21.561 simple place with pots and glasses and plastic containers in 0:26:21.642 --> 0:26:25.202 the kitchen, clothes and cosmetics in the bathroom, a place 0:26:25.482 --> 0:26:29.962 just like anyone else's house. In that document, Zanganado asked 0:26:30.002 --> 0:26:33.961