Framing the frontier – Tracing issues related to soybean expansion in transnational public spheres

Finn Mempel,Esteve Corbera

doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102308

Abstract

Rapid soybean expansion in South America has been linked to numerous socio-environmental problems, including deforestation in sensitive biomes. As a major importing region of soybeans, wider public awareness has also put pressure on the European Union. Different governance initiatives involving various groups of stakeholders have sought to address these issues. However, what is identified as a relevant problem, as a region of interest or which actors are mentioned in this context are all matters of claims-making processes between different groups and mediated through various channels of communication. This study uses a text-mining approach to trace the construction of socio-ecological problems related to soybean expansion and the actors and regions linked with these issues in public discourse. The focus lies on print media from the European Union, but several additional sources are included to investigate the similarities and differences between various communication channels and regions. These include newspaper articles from producing countries and international news agencies, scientific abstracts, corporate statements, and reports from advocacy groups gathered from the mid-1990s to 2020. The results show that European mass media have shifted their focus from consumer labeling, health, and concerns over genetically modified organisms towards more distant or abstract phenomena, such as deforestation and climate change. This has been accompanied with a broader view on different stakeholders, but also with a strong regional focus on the Amazon biome. There has also been much less attention on direct concerns for communities in producing regions, such as land conflicts or disputes over intellectual property rights. We conclude that while European public spheres appear to become more receptive to issues related to impacts in sourcing regions, there remains a narrow focus on specific problems and regions, which reflects a fundamental asymmetry in different stakeholders' ability to shape transnational deliberations and resulting governance processes.

Highlights

Since the early 20th century, soybeans have evolved from a regional food crop into one of the world’s most important agricultural com modities (Du Bois, 2018)
Others have pointed to a more complex “inter-media agenda setting process” (Anderson, 2014). It remains open how the more interactive, networked configuration between traditional media and individualized content generation will affect the construction of environmental issues in public spheres and what this means in terms of legitimacy and efficacy regarding processes of environmental governance. In this contribution we have mobilized a text mining approach to trace the evolution of socio-ecological issues constructed around the expansion of soybean production and trade in the last two decades
Our focus has been on the journalistic field within the European Union (EU) in relation to other fields and regions

Summary

Introduction

Since the early 20th century, soybeans have evolved from a regional food crop into one of the world’s most important agricultural com modities (Du Bois, 2018). Within the past 50 years, soybean production has increased almost tenfold and soy ranks among the four leading crops worldwide in terms of overall area harvested (FAO, 2018). The expansion of soy production has mainly taken place in South America, where it thrived within a context of structural adjustment policies, deregulation and a general embrace of biotechnology and large agribusiness (Leguizamon, 2020; Neiman and Blanco, 2020). Studies have pointed to patterns of landholding concentration, rural displacement, deforestation, soil degradation, food insecurity and health hazards (Goldsmith, 2017; Leguizamon, 2014; McKay and Colque, 2016; Pengue, 2009)

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