UK scientists develop soy traceability tool to combat deforestation

An international team of researchers involving Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, World Forest ID and University of Sheffield has introduced an innovative tool capable of identifying the origin of soybeans with an accuracy of around 200 km. The development is aimed at tackling one of the major drivers of global tropical deforestation and could significantly reshape how agricultural supply chains are monitored.

The study, published in Communications Earth and Environment, combines chemical fingerprinting of soybeans with advanced geospatial machine learning techniques. This approach enables precise estimation of harvest locations, even within complex global supply chains where commodities are often mixed and traded across multiple countries.

The urgency of this innovation is underscored by the scale of deforestation: about 3.7 million hectares of tropical forests were lost in 2023 alone, and more than 71 million hectares between 2001 and 2015. Soy production—largely expanding in South America to meet global demand for animal feed—accounts for approximately 11.5% of deforestation linked to commodity production, ranking third after cattle farming and palm oil.

In the study, researchers analyzed 267 soybean samples collected across South America. The developed model can predict the origin of crops with an average accuracy of 192.5 (±23.5) km. This level of precision is critical, as deforestation risks can vary significantly even between neighboring farms, while previous methods could only identify origins at the country or broad regional level.

The new technology is expected to support the implementation of environmental regulations such as the EU Deforestation Regulation, which will come into force in December 2026. The regulation requires importers to prove that their products are not linked to recently deforested land. Researchers believe this tool will enhance market transparency and corporate accountability, although it is not a standalone solution but rather part of a broader toolkit to combat deforestation.

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