Source: Bonti-Ankomah, Sam, and G. Fox. 1998. Hamburgers and rainforest - a review of issues and evidence. J. Agric. Environ. Ethics 10: 153-182.

This article explores whether beef consumption in North America, especially the use of beef by American fast food chains, is a major cause of deforestation in Central and South American countries. In 1980, the Global 2000 report concluded that tropical forests offer great potential for new foods, medicines, and species that could contribute to the sustainability of the planet. By eliminating the forests for cattle production, people are damaging the soil and destroying the natural environment that is home to many endangered species. The article states that the "increase in permanent pasture land area in South America amounted to 48% of forested land area cleared between 1980 and 1990, up from 38% between 1970 and 1980." Many reasons have been identified as causing the conversion of rainforests into pasturelands. The first is increases in domestic cattle product demand and subsistence production. This increase has been a result of rising agricultural prices and an incentive to convert more forests land into food production to meet increased demand. When commodity prices fall, this also creates an incentive to clear more forestland so that farmers can maintain their income level. Another reason for the conversion to pasture land is a result of population growth and shifting cultivation. The use of shifting cultivation, (i.e. slash and burn), accompanied by population growth has meant that more forest land is being burned and that fallow periods are becoming insufficient to allow the land to complete nutrient regeneration before the next crop rotation. Further reasons for the conversion of rainforests into pasturelands are increased demand for fuelwood and charcoal, and domestic policies that distort the economic advantages of cattle ranching. Under these domestic policies, subsidies and economic incentives are given to people. These include lower interest rates for agricultural investments, lenient income tax regulations on agricultural income, squatters rights for converting rainforest land into "productive" land, and government subsidization of cash crops in order to produce exports and lower government debt. The authors conclude that there is no link between the consumption of hamburgers from fast food restaurants and the depletion of the tropical rainforests. The rate in which the rainforests are being cleared is uncertain but is probably about 0.5% a year. Additionally, because North American beef products have high standards that most beef produced from tropical rainforest regions cannot meet. The authors feel that rain forest depletion is mostly a result of domestic policy in those countries instead of the consumption of hamburgers from fast food restaurants.

Abstract author: Rob Alvarado, 1 October 1998.

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