Susanna Hecht, professor of urban planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, commented in an Americas Quarterly feature on the history of Brazil’s soybean industry and its half-century of expansion to become one of the leading producers of soy worldwide. Hecht, an expert on the political ecology of Latin American tropics — specifically Amazonia — commented on how Brazil became a soybean powerhouse, producing more than half of the global soybean supply. The story details the sector’s origins and growth under the country’s 1964-85 military dictatorship. In the 1976-77 harvest, Brazil produced 12 million metric tons of soy, nearly all of it in the south. By 2000-01, production tripled to 38.4 million, with Brazil’s center-west emerging as the lead soy-growing region. “It was [an attempt] to try to create a Midwest in Brazil,” said Hecht, a specialist on Latin American tropical development. “It’s national capital, government capital stimulating the growth.”
Professor of Urban Planning
Dr. Hecht’s research focuses on the intersections of economies, cultures and land use, and the socio-environmental effects of these processes,...
