 The soy moratorium was established in 2006 as a voluntary agreement between major soybean companies not to purchase soybeans from areas of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon biome. This agreement was intended to reduce deforestation in the region, which had been increasing rapidly due to the demand for soybeans. To monitor compliance with the moratorium, satellite imagery was used to detect soybean plantations in deforested areas. Aerial surveys and field inspections were also conducted to confirm the findings. In the 2009 slash 2010 crop season, 6.3 thousand hectares of soybean were found in deforested areas, representing only 0.25 percent of the total deforestation in the area. However, the moratorium has had an inhibiting effect on the expansion of soybean production into new areas, reducing the need for aerial surveys by nearly 80 percent. This article was authored by Bernardo Machado-Pires, Daniel Furlan-Ameral, Leandro Fabiani, and others.