Day 3 Brazilian Ag Economics and Policy

We got up early and headed on a domestic flight south to Curitiba.  Once we got settled into another hotel the  group was able to meet with Pedro Loyola the technical economic department coordinator for the equivalent of our Farm Bureau. It was  lengthy discussion about the total Brazilian Ag situation.

Pedro detailed that Brazil is ranked 2nd in corn and soybean production in the world.  If you check out his slide you will also note some surprising information on other commodities as well such as milk and chicken.
According t o Peddro, the myth of the continuing  deforestation of the forested areas (including the Amazon) is simply not true. However the farmers he represents are under pressure about the environmental regulations.  In fact 65% of the land is in forest today. Regulations also are enforced to keep forests on each farm as something they call The Forest Code.  A farmer in the Amazon needs to maintain (on his or her own money) 80% of his owned land in forested natural areas! In other biomes this requirement is different.  In Parana, for example, the forested requirement is 20%. He was a strong advocate for public education and outreach to better educate critics of Brazilian Agriculture. We were amazed by the total Ag production however they do have many challenges.  Once of which is their transportation system and storage of grains.