Science & technology | Magic money trees

Deforestation is costing Brazilian farmers millions

Without trees to circulate moisture, the land is getting hotter and drier

Legal Amazon preservation area borders the field for soybean planting.
Photograph: Danilo Verpa/Folhapress

DECADES OF INCREASING maize and soyabean production have turned Brazil into an agricultural powerhouse. They have also led to the destruction of vast swathes of the Amazon rainforest. That has long put farmers and environmentalists at loggerheads. But a study released in October by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN) shows the extent to which deforestation is hurting farmers too.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “It grows on trees”

From the November 30th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Science & technology

A person blowing about a pattern in the shape of a brain

Can you breathe stress away?

It won’t hurt to try. But scientists are only beginning to understand the links between the breath and the mind

The Economist’s science and technology internship

We invite applications for the 2025 Richard Casement internship


A man sits inside a pixelated pink brain while examining a clipboard, with colored squares falling from the brain

A better understanding of Huntington’s disease brings hope

Previous research seems to have misinterpreted what is going on


Is obesity a disease?

It wasn’t. But it is now

Volunteers with Down’s syndrome could help find Alzheimer’s drugs

Those with the syndrome have more of a protein implicated in dementia

Should you start lifting weights?

You’ll stay healthier for longer if you’re strong