Progress machine
The soybean may even be the central point of interest when it
comes to deciding which crop to grow, but everybody knows that
the crop of choice in Brazil is none other than corn. At present, it is
the soybean that occupies the biggest planted areas and is, obvious-
ly, responsible for the biggest production volumes, driven by global
demand. For its part, corn, second most important cereal in our na-
tional agribusiness, with a strategic role in supply, turns into a mark-
er, watershed for the sustainability of the livestock supply chains.
Not by chance, if the first crop, the one that is grown in sum-
mer, has shown preference for soybean and for some other
crops, corn has managed to re-invent itself in such a manner
that it has migrated (for its research merits and technology) to a
later cycle. It is in this second crop, established after the conven-
tional time, that the cereal shows its absolute predominance.
And, as if it were not enough, there are regions that grow a
third crop, much later than the normal time.
With all this versatility, and with its almost omnipresence in the
rural properties around the Country, from the Oiapoque, in the far
north, to the Chuí, in the far south, and in micro, small and medium
farms - even in city vegetable gardens the cereal is present – corn,
for sure, is a real progress machine. Harvestedmanually in the small-
scale farms, or with modern machinery in commercial farms, this
kernel is responsible for wide-spread satisfaction across Brazil.
And corn, after all, is not only for feeding the livestock, in the
form of kernel or feed, although hogs, poultry, beef cattle, dairy
cattle, buffaloes, equines, sheep and many others depend on this
crop. In regional culinary and even at sophisticated gastronomy,
the kernel is present. Along with it, as featured by the yearbook,
other kernels, like popcorn, sorghum and wheat also perform
well and enrich Brazil. May these cereals, at every new growing
season, have their undeniable value acknowledged.
Happy reading!
Sílvio Ávila
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