Watch Greenhouse Gases Increase: Swapping Soybeans for Corn in US Has Ripple Effect in Brazil

Harvesting soybeans photo: Valerie Everett via flickr

At a recent meeting of the AAAS Michael Coe of Woods Hole Research Center pointed out that as corn prices skyrocketed several years ago, enough soybean fields were converted to corn production that soy prices rose, which in turn caused more soy being planted in Brazil. The effect if this swapping of soy for corn continues, according to Coe, is this:

If reduced US soybean production results in a parallel increase in Brazilian soybean production, a potential net release of 1,800 to 9,100 Tg (trillion grams) of CO2 equivalents [or 9 billion tonnes of CO2...] of greenhouse gas emissions due to land-use change is possible. (UC Berkeley news)

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