Summary
This investigative article focuses on a land dispute in Brazil between the indigenous Mỹky people and cattle ranchers who have ties to Marfrig, Brazil’s second largest beef producer that supplies global companies such as McDonalds, Nestle, and Burger King. This case study details some of the specific pressures that Brazilian ranchers have imposed on the Mỹky people, such as significantly reducing their territory, restricting their access to food and culturally important plants, and exposing their land to harmful pesticides. This article also offers a glimpse into the role of the beef industry in illegal Amazon deforestation, environmental degradation, and indigenous land theft. While Marfrig maintains that it does not source any beef from farms tied to illegal deforestation and indigenous territory, the investigation lists evidence that challenges these claims and traces beef in Marfrig’s supply chains to such farms. Additionally, federal red tape that only allows indigenous land to be protected with presidential approval, of which there were none under Bolsonaro’s administration, allows companies like Marfrig to continue encroaching on indigenous land without sanctions.