Livestock grazing is responsible for roughly 40% of global forest loss, making it the single largest individual driver of deforestation worldwide. When you add in cropland used to grow animal feed (primarily soy), the livestock industry’s total footprint grows even larger. A 2021 FAO-backed study found that agricultural expansion overall drives nearly 90% of deforestation, with grazing alone accounting for the biggest single slice.
Grazing vs. Cropland: Where the 40% Fits
The Food and Agriculture Organization reports that more than half of global forest loss comes from converting forests into cropland (for all crops, not just animal feed), while livestock grazing accounts for almost 40%. These two categories overlap with a broader finding from a 2025 meta-analysis in the journal Global Environmental Change, which found that commercial agriculture including livestock drives 83% of deforestation globally.
That 40% figure specifically captures land cleared so cattle and other ruminants can graze directly on it. It does not include forests cut down to plant soy, corn, or other feed crops destined for animal agriculture. Our World in Data estimates that cattle pasture expansion alone drove 41% of tropical deforestation, while oilseeds (dominated by soy and palm oil) accounted for another 18%. Together, beef and oilseeds represent roughly 60% of tropical deforestation.
South America Drives the Numbers
The global average masks enormous regional variation. In South America, almost three quarters of deforestation is driven by livestock grazing, largely concentrated in Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado regions. This is where the 40% global figure gets most of its weight. Brazil is the world’s largest beef exporter, and its cattle herd (the largest commercial herd on the planet) requires vast tracts of cleared forest for pasture.
In Southeast Asia and Africa, the picture looks different. Cropland expansion for palm oil, rubber, cocoa, and smallholder subsistence farming plays a proportionally larger role, while grazing contributes less. So if you’re looking at deforestation in Indonesia or the Congo Basin, livestock is a smaller piece of the puzzle. But at the global level, the sheer scale of South American cattle ranching pulls the average up significantly.
Most Grazing-Linked Deforestation Serves Domestic Markets
A common assumption is that international beef trade is the primary economic force behind grazing-driven deforestation. The reality is more lopsided than most people expect. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences tracked Brazil’s beef supply chain and found that the domestic Brazilian market purchased about 81% of the country’s beef between 2015 and 2017, shouldering roughly 86% of the associated deforestation risk. Export markets accounted for only about 14% of that risk.
This matters because it shows that consumer boycotts or trade restrictions in importing countries, while meaningful, can only address a fraction of the deforestation tied to cattle. Domestic demand within producer countries is the dominant force. Policy changes within Brazil and other major cattle-producing nations have a much larger potential impact than import-side pressure alone.
How the Numbers Add Up
Depending on how you draw the boundaries, livestock’s share of global deforestation ranges from about 40% (grazing pasture only) to potentially over 50% when feed crop production is included. Here’s a simplified breakdown of tropical deforestation drivers from Our World in Data:
- Cattle pasture expansion: 41%
- Oilseeds (soy, palm oil): 18%
- Other cropland and forestry: remaining share
A significant portion of global soy production goes to animal feed rather than direct human consumption. When that fraction is reallocated to livestock’s column, the industry’s total deforestation footprint climbs well above the 40% grazing-only figure. The exact combined number depends on methodology, but the broad picture is consistent across major studies: cattle ranching is the largest single driver, and the livestock sector as a whole is responsible for roughly half of all deforestation in the tropics.
Why the Range of Estimates Varies
You’ll encounter different numbers depending on the source, and that’s partly because researchers define “deforestation” and “drivers” differently. Some studies count only permanent forest-to-pasture conversion. Others include temporary clearing, degradation from selective logging that follows ranching roads, or secondary effects like fire spread from adjacent pastureland. The geographic scope also matters: tropical-only analyses tend to show a higher grazing percentage than global analyses that include temperate and boreal forest loss, where logging and urbanization play bigger roles.
The time period matters too. Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon spiked between 2019 and 2022 before declining somewhat, shifting the recent averages. Despite these methodological differences, every major analysis from the past decade places livestock grazing as the single largest driver of tropical deforestation, consistently landing between 38% and 45% of the total.