02821naa a2200277 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001902400500006010000230011024500910013326000090022450000160023352019900024965000160223965300240225565300230227965300270230265300190232965300190234865300220236770000190238970000140240870000270242270000250244977300690247421243502020-08-13       2020    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d7 ahttps://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.000122DOI1 aSILVA, R. F. B. da  aThe soybean trapbchallenges and risks for Brazilian producers.h[electronic resource]  c2020  aArticle 12.  aSince the 1970s, Brazilian soybean production has grown rapidly, driven by increasingnational and international demand and rising prices. Consequently, soybean productionhas come to be perceived as an attractive opportunity, with the number of farmsproducing soybean across the country reaching around 240,000 in 2017. However,producers can become trapped by dependencies on moneylenders, traders and inputsupply companies, facing so-called? agricultural treadmills?. In this study we undertookinterviews with individual soybean producers and representatives of trader companies,producers? associations, the processing industry, government and civil society, and usedthese data to analyze rural production operations related to the soybean supply chainand to interpret how agricultural treadmills persist in this sector. Based on literaturereview and fieldwork interviews, we found that producers have been able to add valueto their products, but some strategies they use to cope with production costs lead theminto high-risk situations. Our findings show that, sectoral(e.g., producers? associations)and collective actions (e.g., farmers? buying groups) are auseful strategy for producersto gain influence and bargaining power against transnational companies and inputsuppliers compared to acting as an individual within the soybean supply chain. Producerswere emphatic that the current soybean business is now much more than just farmingactivities, and that education and training are highly valuable and important strategies tokeep producers in the soybean business and out of traps. These findings are importantgiven the neoliberal context in which individual producersfind themselves and whichpresents challenges that alone they can do little to change.Policies that enable individualproducers to make environmentally- and financially-sound agricultural decisions are vitalto ensure a sustainable soybean system that does not trap producers in endless cyclesof debt and investment  aAgricultura  aAgricultural inputs  aAgricultural risks  aAgricultural treadmill  aFood commodity  aProfit margins  aRiscos agrícolas1 aBATISTELLA, M.1 aMORAN, E.1 aCELIDONIO, O. L. de M.1 aMILLINGTON, J. D. A.  tFrontiers in Sustainable Food Systemsgv. 4, p. 1-13, Feb. 2020.