Blairo Maggi
Encyclopedia
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
farmer and former governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of the state of Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest...
in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
Maggi also owns the André Maggi Group
André Maggi Group
The André Maggi Group is a large Brazilian company involved in the soybean industry. It is the largest private producer of soybeans in the world...
, a large company that harvests, processes, and exports soybeans. The Maggi group is also involved in the infrastructure projects that are necessary to sustain the soy industry, notably soy terminals, highways, and waterways.
Maggi is the world’s largest soyabean producer. http://economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8099007. His accusers hold him responsible for the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. His defenders say he is taking Brazil forward. In this respect he is unapologetic, telling the New York Times in 2003:
"To me, a 40 per cent increase in deforestation doesn't mean anything at all, and I don't feel the slightest guilt over what we are doing here. We're talking about an area larger than Europe that has barely been touched, so there is nothing at all to get worried about."
Maggi received the Golden Chainsaw
Chainsaw
A chainsaw is a portable mechanical saw, powered by electricity, compressed air, hydraulic power, or most commonly a two-stroke engine...
Award in 2006 from Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
for being the Brazilian who most contributed to the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/soya-king-wins-chainsaw
External links
- "Maggi Group and Mato Grosso: a story of two giants", a sympathetic article
- "Paving the Amazon with Soy", an unsympathetic article
- "Relentless Foe of the Amazon Jungle", Larry Rohter, New York Times, September 17, 2003
- Soy in the Amazon, Pat Joseph, Virginia Quarterly Review, Fall 2007
- Corporate website in English
- http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/20/power-09_Blairo-Maggi_8QDW.html