Do not disturb me with data & facts since I have already made up my mind By Osler Desouzart ([email protected]) The question that was posed to me for answering in 500 words was: how the swine industry, soybean production and the tropical rainforest interrelate in Brazil? Swine industry and soybean production definitely interrelate for obvious reason since the base of pig and poultry nutrition in Brazil is corn and soymeal. We do not use wheat, used for human nutrition and of which Brazil is a net importer. About the tropical rainforest I can only attribute to the European magnificent fixation with our Amazon Forest. Since the Europeans have not asked our opinion when they used their forests to the levels that in some European countries to see a tree you have to visit the Botanic Garden, I constantly wonder why they feel entitled to speak about our forests when they failed to take care of theirs. . Brazil has the 5 th largest land area in the world 1 , the 2 nd largest forest coverage (61,2% versus 37,6% of European Union), including planted commercial forests that I have heard European ecofanatics call "green deserts". Brazil uses 32,5% of its land for agriculture versus 44,6% of EU-27. 2 For those with good intentions it would be helpful a map of Brazil’s Geographical Regions and Political Administrative Organization and another of the Brazilian biomes that can be found bellow. The beloved Amazon Forest, which spreads over 8 different countries, is fundamentally in the North Region of Brazil and the north part of the Center-West Region, which is where the favorite photos of activists are normally taken. Unfortunately in 500 words it is almost impossible to explain the difference between the diverse Brazilian biomes, Geographical Regions and Political Regions but for those interested in knowledge and not in slogan shouting note #3 indicates some basic sources of information. 1 FAOSTAT data considers 225 countries and territories 2 Source: Elaborated by ODConsulting based on data from FAOSTAT | © FAO Statistics Division 2013 | 07 May 2013 Forest area: Global Forest Resource Assessment 2010 (FRA 2010) is the main source of forest area data in FAOSTAT. Data were provided by countries for years 1990, 2000, 2005 and 2010. Data for intermediate years were estimated for FAO using linear interpolation and tabulation.