{"id":179350,"date":"2025-04-09T20:59:42","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T20:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/activist\/elites-posing-as-small-farmers-destroy-critical-rainforests-in-indonesia-the-understory\/"},"modified":"2025-04-09T20:59:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T20:59:42","slug":"elites-posing-as-small-farmers-destroy-critical-rainforests-in-indonesia-the-understory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=179350","title":{"rendered":"Elites posing as small farmers destroy critical rainforests in Indonesia &#8211; The Understory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-21980\">\n<div class=\"author-details\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ran.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/headshot-48x48.jpg\" class=\"attachment-profile_48 size-profile_48\" alt=\"\"\/>\t\tBy <span class=\"author\">Timothy Workman<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">Influential oil palm producers in Indonesia usually hide their involvement in deforestation using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ran.org\/press-releases\/new-report-exposes-royal-golden-eagle-groups-environmental-violations-and-calls-for-brands-and-banks-to-drop-ties\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">shadow companies<\/a>, but they\u2019ve found a new way to avoid scrutiny: by posing as small farmers.<\/p>\n<p>Smallholders grow about 40% of Indonesia\u2019s oil palm, but they\u2019re not all the same. Some cultivate on customary croplands, are poor, and face many hurdles in Indonesia\u2019s pro-corporate system. Others are local elites who run their plots like mini corporate plantations, complete with managers and heavy machinery.<\/p>\n<p>The latter are <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0266178#sec013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">largely responsible<\/a> for increases in Indonesia\u2019s smallholder-driven deforestation. They\u2019re also why the orangutan capital of the world is disappearing, according to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ran.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/RAN_Orangutan_Capital_Under_Siege_2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">latest investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">Using high-resolution satellite imagery, we spied on five pint-sized plantations run by local elites in Sumatra\u2019s Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve, two of which are already supplying major global brands with illegal palm oil, including Chips Ahoy! and Head &amp; Shoulders-makers Mondel\u0113z and Procter &amp; Gamble.<\/p>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">The \u201csmallholder\u201d label affords these rogue operators a level of sympathy that they don\u2019t deserve. They\u2019re not smallholders in the sense of family-run farms. Rather, they\u2019re land speculators with large cumulative landholdings who abuse their influence to clear standing rainforests.<\/p>\n<p>The oil palm lobby is ginning up sympathy for smallholders to sell the EU on blanket exemptions that could shield these and other small, rogue operators\u2014a terrible development for the Singkil and its famous orange inhabitants, should it come to pass.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ran.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/CloseUpExcavator_PaulHilton_10232.jpg\" class=\"ss-hidden-pin-image\" alt=\"\" data-pin-url=\"https:\/\/www.ran.org\/the-understory\/elites-posing-as-small-farmers-destroy-critical-rainforests\/\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.ran.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/CloseUpExcavator_PaulHilton_10232.jpg\" data-pin-description=\"Elites posing as small farmers destroy critical rainforests in Indonesia\"\/>\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!-- .entry-content --><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<!-- .entry-footer -->\n\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Timothy Workman Influential oil palm producers in Indonesia usually hide their involvement in deforestation using shadow companies, but they\u2019ve found a new way to avoid scrutiny: by posing as small farmers. Smallholders grow about 40% of Indonesia\u2019s oil palm, but they\u2019re not all the same. Some cultivate on customary croplands, are poor, and face [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":179351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12022],"tags":[11082,40045,64587,15919,28297,32569,50075,709,16100],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-179350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activist","tag-critical","tag-destroy","tag-elites","tag-farmers","tag-indonesia","tag-posing","tag-rainforests","tag-small","tag-understory"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Elites posing as small farmers destroy critical rainforests in Indonesia - The Understory - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=179350\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elites posing as small farmers destroy critical rainforests in Indonesia - The Understory - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Timothy Workman Influential oil palm producers in Indonesia usually hide their involvement in deforestation using shadow companies, but they\u2019ve found a new way to avoid scrutiny: by posing as small farmers. Smallholders grow about 40% of Indonesia\u2019s oil palm, but they\u2019re not all the same. Some cultivate on customary croplands, are poor, and face [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=179350\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-09T20:59:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/CloseUpExcavator_PaulHilton_10232-1020x680.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1020\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=179350#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=179350\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Elites posing as small farmers destroy critical rainforests in Indonesia &#8211; 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