Brazilian prosecutors accuse Cargill of ‘human rights violations' in supply chain

Brazilian prosecutors have accused Minnesota-based Cargill of failing to address "serious human rights violations" in its soybean supply chain that runs deep into the South American country.

In a civil lawsuit filed against the global commodity giant, the government is demanding roughly $21.9 million "for collective moral harm," the country's Labor Prosecutor's Office said in a news release last week. Cargill declined to comment.

The release did not detail the alleged human rights violations. The lawsuit requests that Cargill guarantee "full traceability and the eradication of abuses throughout its supply chain."

Prosecutors alleged "the company failed to implement effective monitoring and control mechanisms, thereby allowing the exploitation of workers to ensure the flow of value in its operations," the news release said.

Cargill has operated in Brazil since at least 1965, employing 16,000 people and generating about $24 billion in annual revenue there as of 2025, the company has said. Brazil's power as an agricultural leader has grown in recent decades as it has increased its acreage of commodities like soybeans. Cargill has operations in 17 Brazilian states and 147 municipalities through warehouses, ports and offices, a company website said.

A 2024 U.S. Department of Labor report said about 2.1% of children in Brazil ages 5-14 work and 2.4% of children ages 15-17 engage in hazardous work. The report listed forced labor in agriculture as one of the worst forms of child labor in the country.

The case is part of the Brazilian prosecutors' Reação em Cadeia - or Chain Reaction - project to combat slave labor, which was given a renewed push in 2024. Prosecutors announced four additional lawsuits last week accusing large companies of operating supply chains fueled by slave labor.

Among them was JBS, a large Brazilian-based meatpacker that employs thousands of people in Minnesota, alleging the company "has labor in conditions analogous to slavery within its supply chain," the release said. In 2022, U.S. Labor Department attorneys said a cleaning service that contracted with JBS had illegally hired at least six minors to help clean two southwestern Minnesota meatpacking facilities including JBS Pork in Worthington.

The Chain Reaction project's methodology includes tracking supply chains using public data, "police intelligence, and inspections to identify brands and sectors that profit financially from exploitation," the news release said. The program relies in part on large companies reporting suppliers engaged in slave labor.

But Bloomberg reported that authorities said Cargill and JBS declined to sign a conduct-adjustment agreement requiring stronger supply chain oversight.

Cargill has previously had issues with its supply chain in Brazil. A Brazilian court ordered Cargill in 2023 to pay about $120,185 for buying cocoa from farms where forced work occurred, Reuters reported. The company disagreed with the ruling at the time and said it would appeal. Cargill said the case is still in the appeals process.

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This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 4:28 AM.