Why Indigenous Groups Are Targeting Brazil’s Booming Grain Trade
Hundreds of protestors are blocking a key Amazon soybean port in clash over river dredging.
A barge and bulk carrier ship are loaded with soybeans at the Cargill grain terminal, along the Tapajós and Amazon Rivers in Santarém, Pará state, Brazil, in 2025.
Photographer: Dado Galdieri/BloombergIn global crop powerhouse Brazil, major farming groups supported new laws that made it easier to fast-track roads and riverways crossing the Amazon rainforest. Now, they are facing the backlash in a crucial shipping route for corn and soybean exports.
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A few hundred members of 14 Indigenous tribes have been blocking terrestrial access to a Cargill port terminal near the confluence of the Amazon and Tapajós Rivers for over three weeks, halting the unloading of soybeans from trucks. Earlier this month, demonstrators also briefly shut down the entrance to Santarém airport, one of the region’s main transport hubs.