ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER 10 AGRONOMY Owen Roberts Brazil’s biological advantage It’s not just exceptional climate that’s made this country a production giant Brazil’s rapid adoption of biological products has been driven by agronomic need, strong research partnerships, coordinated industry action, and supportive regulation. Brazil, an expansive country that has gone from being a food importer to a food exporter in a generation, is widely regarded as a megafarm stronghold. However, while it continues to break production and export records, about 77 per cent of its operations are considered family farms. That’s about 20 per cent less than the percentage of family farms in Canada or the U.S., and a fraction of the production, but it still represents four million farms and about 80 million acres. One such operation, Estancia Farm in São Paulo, looks much like a progressive Ontario grain farm — at least, in some ways. For example, it consists of 3,000 acres of corn and soybeans, and also operates a successful grain elevator. Its operators employ agronomists and other professionals to help institute research-based regenerative practices, such as no-till. And like Canadian farmers, they struggle with weather variability, including drought, and rising input costs. A big difference, though, is that unlike many other Brazilian farmers who are eager to add value by adding land, Estancia’s operators don’t want to expand. The farm is run by two sisters in their 30s, Aline and Nathalia Vick, second-generation farmers who accepted their father’s offer to get involved. Aline says she and Nathalia would rather concentrate on maximizing yields on their current acreage through the kinds of plant and soil technology that have got them this far. In part, that means using biological products as part of an integrated management system. Brazilian independent agronomist Ana Paula Silva says biological product use in grain production in Brazil,
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