RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday dealt a major blow to the future of the country’s soy moratorium, upholding state laws that deny tax incentives to farmers who complied with the agreement barring the purchase of soy grown on deforested Amazon land. At the same time, the court affirmed the constitutionality of the voluntary pact.
In January, major grain traders withdrew from the soy moratorium, which helped slash deforestation over its nearly two decades in effect, after top soy-producing states passed bills revoking tax benefits for participating companies.
