Paraguay is the fastest growing soybean producer in the world bringing untold riches to a very poor and corrupt country. The bean fields stretch far into the distance, consuming the horizon with waves of green leaves and a stink like dead animals from toxic agro-chemicals.
The Founding of Asunción, Paraguay
Published August 15, 2007
Today is a state holiday, the anniversary of Asuncion's founding in 1537. While the generals and politicians laid flowers at the shrine of Paraguay's heroes some 200 campesinos rallied down the street at Plaza Uruguay. They chanted "The people together, we will never be defeated."
Their message is a malaise of criticism toward the politicians who are seen as corrupt and who make promises only during elections. They want land, education, and health care, all of which are lacking in the countryside. The campesinos started their rally in the same square where the native Guarani are camped. Though their concerns are distinct, they both have been ushered in by soya. I'm beginning to see soybeans as the hook on which Paraguay's social problems are being hung.
Project
Food insecurity can result from climate change, urban development, population growth and oil price shifts that are interconnected and rarely confined by borders. It’s an issue of global importance,...
Soybeans, rows and rows of soybeans all around. In western Paraguay the fields that were once thick rain forests are now soybean plantations.
Gateways
Project
Grantee
Charles Lane is a freelance radio and print reporter. He has worked for National Public Radio, Voice of America, Penthouse Magazine, and the Religion News Service. His fourth radio documentary...
