Pat Dumoulin left Brazil feeling a close kinship with those who work that land for a living. After first hand glimpses of agriculture in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and in Parana, Dumoulin observes that she and her family have much in common with producers in Brazil, especially in Parana, where she says the people who own the farms are the ones most likely to be planting, harvesting and marketing what’s produced on the land. Just before she talked to Brownfield, she heard the president of the farm cooperative COOPAVEL say that by 2020, Brazil’s livestock production will double and their output of grains will grow by 50 percent. She’s particularly impressed by that, but yet, not one bit worried that it will cause a surplus. “The world population is growing and there’s no way the United States can feed the world by itself, so I think the demand will increase tremendously as people raise their incomes and Brazil and United States will certainly be needed to meet that demand.”

AUDIO: Pat Dumoulin (10 min. MP3)

One of the biggest challenges of Mato Grosso farmers is the distance they have to transport their crops for export. Bill Wykes, who farms about 60 miles from Chicago, sees differences in Brazil since he was last here in 1998. He says they’re taking greater advantage of using grains grown here to feed to livestock. “They have hog confinements, poultry barns, more crushing facilities being built, therefore making better use of their corn,” Wykes told Brownfield in Brazil. Wykes also observes that U.S. farms may have a competitive edge over Brazil farms because of Mato Grosso farms being operated by managers rather than by farm owners, as is more common in the U.S.

AUDIO: Bill Wykes (10 min. MP3)

Brazil farmers have challenges when it comes to transportation. Many of the fields where soybeans are grown are some 1,000 from a sea port and all there is to connect them are roadways and trucks. It makes for high transportation costs and a high time investment in getting crops to an export point. At peak times it’s not unusual to have a sixty-mile line of trucks waiting to unload at a terminal. In spite of that, the Port of Paranagua is Brazil’s second largest. Lourenço Fregonese is new as the port’s director and speaks about its importance in relation to the country’s economy.

AUDIO: Lourenco Fregonese (2 min. MP3)

Since first setting foot on Parana soil at the age of five, most of Franke Dijkstra’s life has been dedicated to keeping that soil in place. Part of the first wave of Dutch immigrants to this community in southern Brazil, Dijkstra, and Parana, have flourished. Along with two more generations who carry the family name, he’s successfully raised rice, soybeans, dairy cows and hogs. By Dijksta’s account, the reason the area is still productive is because he changed his method of farming. “And then the erosion came and that was the reason that we began with the no-tillage” said Dijkstra. It’s served him well. “There’s no other way to farm in Brazil, in the tropics,” Dijkstra told Brownfield. “Erosion degrades the soil real fast from blowing if you disk.” Not only that, Dijkstra’s production per liter of fuel has doubled.

AUDIO: Franke Dijkstra (6 min. MP3) 

The market in the Brazilian city of Curitiba was built to promote the production and sale of organic foods as a viable choice in Curitiba, located in the southern Brazilian state of Parana. Marcello Munaretto, Curitiba’s director of food supply, tells Brownfield the organic market provides incentive to preserve what he refers to as the ‘greenbelt.’ “About of the water we consume here in Curitiba comes from under the soil of this greenbelt, so we need to give these producers around Curitiba the chance to produce without the chemical products that [could pollute the water],” said Munaretto. As a result, demand has been bolstered for organic products and assumed by the organic market, according to Munaretto. In his words, “We’re working on the conscience of consumers.”

AUDIO: Marcelo Munaretto (3 min. MP3)

Surrounded by a colorful array of fruits, nuts, vegetables and other produce, Morton, Illinois soybean grower Dan Farney is impressed with what he sees. There’s “every conceivable type of fruit and vegetable you can imagine,” Farney tells Brownfield at the market, located in the city of Curitiba, Parana, Brazil. “It looks wonderful, it’s smells very nice; it looks like a great market.” Pausing in the midst of produce sellers in the southern Brazil city gave Farney a chance to reflect on the rest of the trip to Brazil preceding the stop at the market. “I’ve found Brazil to be more of an up-and-coming nation than what I thought I might expect,” said Farney. He’s also struck by the farms he’s visited in Brazil. “The size is impressive; the size of the farms and fields,” said Farney.

AUDIO: Dan Farney (4 min. MP3)

Southeastern Illinois soybean grower Doug Winter was surprised at the efficiency of soybean production in Brazil’s state of Parana. Winter, the treasurer of the Illinois Soybean Association, says that despite the fact that some of southern Brazil’s higher farm ground is used to grow coffee, he more easily identifies with Parana’s farmers. “In a lot of ways I think Parana is a lot more similar to Illinois, production-wise, both in yields and [farm size].” Winter says soybean yields on Parana farms were just below those of Illinois for the 2010 marketing year, but on the other hand, “their corn yields are substantially below ours.” Winter, speaking just outside the headquarters of the farm cooperative OCEPAR in Curitiba, Brazil, had just completed a presentation for cooperative and farm organization leaders from the area.

AUDIO: Doug Winter (4 min. MP3)

The layout is bright and inviting. The shops aren’t very big, but they’re well stocked with attractively packaged and displayed items, most are products of Brazil. “We have a lack of technology here yet,” conceded shot owner Antonio Rapetti, talking to Brownfield outside his shop called Made in Brazil. “In the organic line of products, we’re not mature in this market.” What there seems to be plenty of in Brazil is potential. “The demand for organic products in Brazil for the last three years has been growing between 35 percent to 45 percent yearly,” said Rapetti, “this market is completely new.”

AUDIO: Antonio Rapetti (3 min. MP3)

The tracts of land are vast in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Roseville, Illinois farmer Ron Moore, chairman of the Illinois Soybean Association, is impressed by what he sees in the soybean fields here. Mato Grosso farmers are using some of the latest techniques to grow soybeans. Moore reiterates that there is more that growers here have in common with Illinois growers than there is to compete about. “Freedom to operate and how we are perceived in the public’s eyes,” says Moore, referring to his fellow farmers in Brazil.

AUDIO: Ron Moore (3 min. MP3)

The Brazilian economy depends heavily on agriculture and exports of those commodities. Illinois soybean grower Duane Dallman finds it interesting the method by which commodities are traded at the country’s central exchange. These days it’s all done electronically, but the financial infrastructure is being put in front of the Brazilian people on an increasing basis so that private investment can be coaxed into the market. Since open outcry bidding ended in the last year-and-a –half, upwards of a half-million people have been paraded through the exchange and are shown the basics of how the market works and how they can participate. When it comes to raising soybeans, Dallman is confident of the Midwest’s place as a contender when stacked up against Brazilian growers. Dallman says Brazilian farmers are the ones to beat in producing a high-protein soybean, but Illinois has the edge when it comes to yield. At the heart of it, Dallman says competition is friendly because demand is strong. “There is a place for all the soybeans we’re producing,” Dallman told Brownfield following a visit to some farms in Brazil’s state of Mato Grosso.

AUDIO: Duane Dallman (7 min. MP3)