A study by the news organization InfoAmazonia revealed that cattle raised in the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous Land in Rondônia supplied two JBS meatpacking plants. The study indicates that the company’s facilities in Pimenta Bueno and Vilhena indirectly received animals from this Indigenous territory and other protected areas. These plants supplied meat to markets controlled by the French retail giant Casino.

JBS purchased around 500 head of cattle from a farm that deforested 2,000 hectares between 2018 and 2021, according to an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), The Guardian, Repórter Brasil, and Forbidden Stories. According to the report, the cattle came from a property in Pontes e Lacerda, Mato Grosso, and were supplied to a JBS meatpacking plant that processed the animals and exported beef to the UK and other countries.

Eight hundred million trees have been cut down in the Amazon over six years to make way for cattle ranching, resulting in 17,000 square kilometers of deforestation, according to an estimate by the consultancy AidEnvironment, cited in reports by The Guardian, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), Repórter Brasil, and Forbidden Stories. In the study, thirteen JBS plants—twice as many as those linked to Brazil’s second-largest meatpacker—have been associated with this deforestation.

An average of 64 soccer fields of forest are cleared every week by indirect suppliers of JBS in the Amazon, according to Global Witness. This figure was calculated using data from a bot created by organization, which alerts followers to deforestation linked to the company’s supplier farms in the state of Pará.

According to a study by Mighty Earth, JBS purchased cattle from a farm located on land claimed by the Ikpeng Indigenous people, in the municipality of Paranatinga, Mato Grosso. The property is owned by Édio Nogueira, who is considered one of the largest deforesters in the Amazon. The study indicates that, between 2001 and 2020, he was fined nearly USD 15 million by Ibama for multiple environmental violations, including illegal deforestation of native vegetation, environmental degradation, and the irregular use of pesticides.

JBS is the largest polluter among the world’s industrial livestock companies, according to a ranking by World Animal Protection. The organization estimates that the company’s processing of chickens and pigs generates greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those produced by 14 million cars on the road each year.