Mongabay: Suriname will not be saved by soybeans (commentary)

In a new commentary for Mongabay, Dr. Mark Plotkin, ethnobotanist and President of the Amazon Conservation Team, argues that large-scale foreign agribusiness — Brazilian, Mennonite, or otherwise — won’t modernize Suriname’s economy and bring shared prosperity, as promised. Instead, drawing on patterns seen throughout tropical America, he argues it will do the opposite: clearing forest, polluting rivers, and creating minimal local employment, while the wealth generated moves elsewhere.

The piece points to the risks industrial monoculture poses to Suriname’s fisheries and drinking water through heavy agrochemical use, and notes that new agricultural infrastructure could compound existing harms from small-scale gold mining. Plotkin calls instead for an approach that strengthens food security, supports local producers, and incorporates the input of the communities most connected to Suriname’s rivers and rainforests before any agreements are signed.

Read the full piece here.