Brazil

Brazil's grain crushing industry that has vowed to stop buying soybeans farmed on freshly cleared Amazon biome said on Jan. 20 it identified 365 newly deforested areas since its first survey, in July 2007. The industry is now investigating if soybeans have been planted in the areas, from which it will refuse to purchase grains, the Brazilian Vegetable Oils Industry Association (Abiove) said. The recently discovered areas add to 263 others which were deforested during the year finished in July 2007. At that time, none of them had been used for soy planting. (Reuters)