Demand for pork—particularly in China—has dramatically altered agricultural and environmental realities around the world. The need for more pig herds necessitates increased production of cheap soybeans to feed them, which in turn places a huge burden on the environment and the small farmers displaced by the agribusiness giants. The informative documentary Soyalism explores the issues in depth.
In North Carolina, a Chinese company took over a hog farm. The once family-owned and operated business is now a massive producer of pig manure, which is constantly being dumped on the coastal plain, causing an ecological imbalance. It affects the purity of water and the quality of air that residents breathe every day.
In Brazil, the insatiable demand for soy fuels deforestation in the Amazon. The plush rainforest is now a soybean field stretching to the horizon. A handful of companies have added soy to animal feed around the world. In the process, they also make it an inevitable part of everyone’s diet. “The world is one big pigsty,” says an environmental and health activist.
Soy farming is also making a big push into Africa, an expansion made possible by cheap land leases. A company that promises holistic development that will benefit every citizen of the region is just a scam designed to exploit natural resources and defraud hard-working independent farmers for a living.
The climate impacts of these practices are profound. From corrosive greenhouse gas emissions to the destruction of valuable resources, opponents see large-scale agribusiness as tantamount to a criminal enterprise.
What is the solution? Ultimately, soyism advocates eating less meat. This will reduce damage to the environment, improve quality of life for consumers and allow animal cruelty to be mitigated.
The film travels the world to uncover the root of the problem, how it affects ordinary citizens and endangers the world we live in.
Directed by: Enrico Parenti, Stefano Liberti
