SANTAREM, Brazil: As Brazil cements its position as the world's top soy exporter, a new wave of deforestation is spreading across the Amazon, despite a key industry pact aimed at protecting the rainforest.

Farmers are clearing large swathes of land to plant soy, using a loophole in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a 2006 voluntary agreement signed by major grain traders not to buy soy grown on land deforested after 2008.

The Moratorium protects untouched, primary rainforest but excludes "secondary forests"—vegetation that regrew on previously cleared land. These areas, though ecologically important, can legally be razed for soy, allowing the grain to be marketed as "deforestation-free."

According to the moratorium's latest report for 2022-23, soy cultivation in virgin forests has nearly tripled since 2018, reaching 250,000 hectares, 3.4 percent of all soy grown in the Amazon. However, independent research shows that the real footprint is likely far larger.

Satellite data analyzed by Xiaopeng Song, a geography professor at the University of Maryland, found that 16 percent of soy-producing land in the Brazilian Amazon—about 1.04 million hectares—had been cleared after the 2008 cutoff. "It creates loopholes if we only limit it to primary forest," he said.

The soy industry body Abiove, which oversees the pact, acknowledged that some soy is being planted where secondary forests were cut. Still, it defended the Moratorium's narrow definition, arguing broader interpretations could lead to "inflated" assessments of deforestation.

Scientists warn that even regrown forests play a crucial role in carbon capture and biodiversity. "We cannot achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement without actively increasing the carbon sink," said Viola Heinrich of the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences. Secondary forests absorb carbon faster than primary ones, she noted.

Near the Amazon port city of Santarem, soy farming is accelerating. "What can be stolen once, can be stolen again," said Gilson Rego of the Pastoral Land Commission, observing soy fields replacing secondary forest. Farmers are drawn by easy access to Cargill's shipping terminal, which reduces transport costs. Cargill declined to comment.

China is the top buyer of Brazilian soy, primarily for animal feed. Cofco, China's leading grain trader, remains a signatory to the Moratorium and says it remains committed.

Despite this, political pressure is growing to weaken the pact. Some right-wing lawmakers and farm groups have filed lawsuits and proposed laws to soften the rules. In April, a Supreme Court justice backed Mato Grosso's plan to revoke tax benefits for signatories. That ruling awaits full court approval.

Even Abiove president Andre Nassar hinted at reform: "Something needs to be done."

Soy farmers say current rules are unfair. "It's not fair that other countries in Europe could deforest and grow, and now we are held back by laws that are not even ours," said Adelino Avelino Noimann, a soy association leader in Pará state.

However, environmentalists say that removing protections could lead to far greater damage. "We still see the expansion of soy in the Amazon," said IPAM director Andre Guimaraes. "But it could be worse."