[00:00.04]Brazil is the largest exporter of soybeans, chicken and beef in the world.
[00:08.16]It is also a major producer of pork and corn.
[00:13.38]The Reuters news agency says Brazil's success
[00:18.44]is partly a result of low prices for farm land and permissive land-use policies.
[00:27.48]Some farmers are leaving the Amazon,
[00:30.84]partly because of international concerns about the rainforest.
[00:36.88]Many are moving to an area in the center of the country, known as the Cerrado.
[00:44.36]The Cerrado is about the same size as Mexico.
[00:49.28]It stretches from Brazil's western border with Paraguay
[00:53.72]up to the northeast and the Atlantic Ocean.
[00:58.32]It is the largest flat, wooded grasslands in South America.
[01:05.32]The area is also home to five percent of living species on Earth.
[01:12.78]Over the past 10 years,
[01:16.24]Brazilian farmers have been developing large parts of the Cerrado.
[01:22.16]The government says the area has lost more than 105,000
[01:27.69]square kilometers of its native plant cover since 2008.
[01:34.28]That number represents 50 percent more land
[01:38.12]than the deforestation seen during the same period in the Amazon.
[01:44.12]Based on relative size, the Cerrado is disappearing nearly
[01:48.96]four times faster than the rainforest.
[01:53.28]The Cerrado is also rich in carbon dioxide gas.
[01:58.96]Studies have linked rising levels of carbon dioxide
[02:03.00]to rising temperatures in Earth's atmosphere.
[02:08.04]Many scientists blame the increase on deforestation
[02:12.32]and use of coal, oil and other fossil fuels.
[02:18.24]Brazilian officials say protection of native plant life
[02:22.72]is important to meeting the country's goals
[02:25.94]under the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change.
[02:30.78]But scientists say industrial farming in the Carredo
[02:35.64]could hold back Brazil's efforts and worsen global warming.
[02:41.80]Liliana Pena Naval is an environmental engineering professor
[02:46.46]at the Federal University of Tocantins.
[02:50.52]She told the Associated Press that the removal of plants
[02:54.90]can cause bodies of water to disappear.
[02:59.00]Thousands of plants, fish, insects and animals are also affected.
[03:07.36]Many of these species are only beginning to be studied.
[03:13.36]Farmers see the development of the Cerrado
[03:16.32]as necessary for Brazil's food security and economic success.
[03:22.80]The agriculture industry grew 13 percent in 2017.
[03:28.76]The ability to keep producing new farmland at low costs
[03:33.60]has given Brazil better chances for success than other countries.
[03:39.07]Deforestation in the Cerrado has slowed from the early 2000s.
[03:44.60]But farmers continue to develop large parts of the area.
[03:51.56]Much of the growth is fueled by Chinese demand for Brazilian meat and grain.
[03:58.23]China is Brazil's top buyer of soybeans.
[04:03.40]China is also a major purchaser of Brazilian pork, beef and chicken.
[04:12.40]Rising trade tensions between China and the United States
[04:16.84]have only made the connection stronger.
[04:20.64]Brazil's soybean exports to China are up 18 percent
[04:25.84]through the first seven months of 2018.
[04:30.24]The increase comes as Chinese buyers have canceled
[04:34.60]tens of millions of dollars' worth of business deals with U.S. suppliers.
[04:42.36]Environmental protections remain strong in Brazil.
[04:47.20]Rainforest farmers are required by law
[04:50.60]to protect 80 percent of native plants on their land.
[04:55.84]As part of its promise under the Paris Agreement,
[04:59.40]the government agreed to end illegal Amazon deforestation by 2030.
[05:06.64]But Brazil has made no similar effort to protect the Cerrado.
[05:12.64]Environmentalists say the area's wooded grasslands
[05:17.42]have failed to capture the public's attention the way the Amazon has.
[05:24.28]Last year, some environmental protection groups
[05:28.14]began calling for large international businesses to protect the Cerrado.
[05:34.25]Among those groups were Greenpeace,
[05:37.88]the World Wildlife Foundation and the Brazilian research group IPAM.
[05:45.36]They called for immediate action to end the deforestation
[05:50.04]in a document known as the Cerrado Manifesto.
[05:54.80]More than 60 companies, including McDonalds,
[05:58.92]Unilever and Walmart, offered to follow the manifesto.
[06:04.36]They have agreed to support measures that would end native
[06:09.61]vegetation loss in the Cerrado from their production processes.
[06:15.24]Farmer Julimar Pansera purchased land in the Cerrado seven years ago.
[06:22.12]Today, he oversees nearly 49 square kilometers of soy fields
[06:28.20]and has about 20 full-time employees.
[06:33.20]He said there is no future without growth.
[06:37.16]"There is still a large area to be opened," he said.
[06:42.39]"It will be one of the great centers of Brazilian agriculture."
[06:48.64]I'm Jonathan Evans.