A
gricultural activities in general
require close relationwith sev-
eral productive sectors, which,
inturn,aredeterminingfactors
forsupplyingthefoodneedsof
the global population. Within this vast com-
plex, one of the most important links, if not
the most important, is corn. Although not
being the great bet of the farmers as the fi-
nancial basis of their farms, a role now per-
formedmainly by soybean, which is in great
demand and boasts high global liquidity,
the cereal is the indispensable and strategic
partner, not only for its economic result, but
for the benefits to the cultivation system.
In Brazil, corn has always been pres-
ent – by the way, the cereal originated in
the Americas, and was the staple food of
pre-Colombian people in the entire con-
tinent, from Mexico to the Inca Empire, in
the South. The important role it achieved in
supplying the needs of other supply chains,
suchaslivestockoperations,raisedthecere-
al toapositionnever seenbefore. The result
is the formidable leap the national fields be-
gan to show in volumes, mainly because of
the cultivation strategy that consists inmore
than one period a year, including a second
crop, after the first summer crop.
As the climate was extremely favor-
able in the 2016/17 growing season in al-
most all the relevant growing hubs (Rio
Grande do Sul and Paraná, in the South,
Mato Grosso and Goiás, in the Center-
West; Minas Gerais in the Southeast and
Bahia, in the Northeast), this year’s har-
vest is supposed to reach an unprecedent-
ed high. The National Food Supply Agen-
cy (Conab), in its crop surveys, calculates
the volume at 96 million tons, very close
to the 100 million ton mark. It represents
an increase of 44% from the previous year,
although the planted area has only gone
up by 9.2%; once productivity is supposed
to soar 32.1%, it is this scenario of positive
factors that provides all the conditions for
this plentiful crop.
The Brazilian population and the inter-
national clients that purchase their pro-
tein in Brazil are really thankful. Birds and
hogs, beef cattle and dairy cattle, small
and medium sized animals, they all bene-
fit from the crop. The human food industry
equally takes advantage of this quality ker-
nel. Of course, the whole nature celebrates.
Even bees, in their role of spreading pollen,
which, after all, is the number one fertiliz-
er in life. May the bees, and all of us, always
have good and plenty of food available.
Happy reading!
n
SWEET
plans
The big corn crop in the 2016/17 growing
seasonconfirmsoneofthebiggestleapsinrecentyears.Conabofficials
estimatedthecropat96milliontons,up44%fromthepreviousseason.
Theplantedareawentup9.2%,andproductivity, 32.1%.Simplyfantastic!
Sílvio Ávila
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