Every year Argentine soy farmers seem to set new records—in land area under cultivation, in production, in tons exported, in foreign-exchange earnings. As they do, analysts worry that the trend is getting out of hand. Concern about soy monoculture here is not new. Experts have warned for several years that expanding soy cultivation—driven by demand from the developing world, particularly China and India—is crowding out other forms of agriculture. In the process, they’ve said, it has caused soil depletion in the humid pampa, one of the world’s most fertile regions, and deforestation in northern Argentina. Now, however, even those who promoted soy cultivation have become worried as farming of the crop has continued to spread. Government officials have joined the chorus... [Log in to read more]