Brazil’s satellites did not detect anything alarming. Yet down on the ground, the trees were dying.

Slowly but surely, a stretch of protected forest the size of New York City was drying out. Leaves were falling off the trees, and, as the sun spilled through the disintegrating canopy, pastures of grass were sprouting below.

It was all intentional.

When Brazilian authorities responded to anonymous complaints about the destruction last year, they found troves of empty herbicide containers. Cattle roamed on some of the newly grown pastures.

The land was owned by Claudecy Oliveira Lemes, a rancher who has supplied some of the world’s biggest meatpackers, including JBS, a Brazilian beef giant that exports to the United States.

Mr. Lemes is now also a defendant, charged this month with committing one of the single biggest acts of illegal deforestation in Brazil. The authorities are seeking nearly $1 billion in compensation. Mr. Lemes has denied any wrongdoing.

What separates Mr. Lemes from the thousands of other loggers and ranchers who have razed stretches of the Amazon and other forests across Brazil is that he employed what the authorities say is a dangerous new technique: chemical deforestation.

In other words, he used chemicals, instead of chain saws, to clear the forest.