A special series by grantee Caio de Freitas Paes for Mongabay reveals U.S. interests related to major land theft cases and unsustainable water withdrawal for irrigated farming in the West of Bahia state.
The series of two written pieces and a short documentary reveal that Cargill bought tons of soy harvested from land grabbed areas in Bahia, an agricultural expansion zone in the country. As a consequence, the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. linked itself to a nearly $200 million corruption scheme in Bahia.
With the support of the Fund for Investigative Journalism, Mongabay was able to provide an in-depth look at the costs of the U.S. agribusiness and real estate interests on the Brazilian Cerrado.