U.S. farmers see Brazil as lucrative investment-leaving the USA for new lands of opportunities

mnplan.state.mn.us ^ | Thursday, 20-Mar-2003 14:55:23 CST | Minnesota IssueWatch

[Destro]

U.S. farmers see Brazil as lucrative investment

"U.S. Farmers Put Down Roots in Brazilian Soil," Simon Romero. New York Times (www.nytimes.com), December 1, 2002.

"Iowans bid to broaden farming prospects in Brazil," Jerry Perkins. Des Moines Register (www.desmoinesregister.com), November 11, 2002.

"No Bad Soils," Marcia Zarley Taylor. Top Producer (www.agweb.com), November 2002.

An Iowa farmer has purchased more than 7,000 acres in Brazil as a way to bring his son into the family farm operation. Another may sell more than 1,000 acres of Iowa farmland to buy 10,000 acres in Brazil. Investment pools are being set up for farmers who see opportunity in Brazil, but who don't have enough capital to invest on their own. More than 200 American farmers, including a Mennonite colony, are now farming in Brazil.

"Brazil is where we're going to expand Iowa," said David Kruse, an Iowa farmer and commodity broker who expects a 20 percent annual return on investment.

Crop-ready land in Brazil can be purchased for $400 to $500 an acre. The average price for Iowa farmland is $2,400 an acre. About 120 million acres have been cleared for crop production and pastures and another 200 million acres are in reserve.

Production costs in Brazil are also lower and the tropical climate supports double-cropping, or growing two crops a year. The country's government is committed to agriculture as a vehicle for economic growth, and there are few restrictions on foreign ownership of land. Brazilian officials have visited the United States to talk with Americans considering farming.

U.S. prairie states pride themselves on having some of the world's best farm land, but research in Brazil, first funded by Nelson and David Rockefeller in the 1950s, has provided information that now makes soil quality almost irrelevant. Research found that lime could counteract the aluminum toxicity and calcium and magnesium deficiencies in the country's soil. "With today's technology, anyone can make soil," said Carlos Roberto Spehar, a Brazilian agronomist.

Soybeans and related products from Brazil and Argentina now exceed U.S. exports. Some agronomists say the transformation of the tropics could be one of the next century's most important contributions to world food security, with the capacity to feed 500 million people using available technology.

Minnesota IssueWatch is an electronic newsletter published by Minnesota Planning to brief decision-makers and citizens on critical and emerging issues. IssueWatch draws from media sources to highlight issues, trends and ideas that could affect citizens and government. Information in Minnesota IssueWatch does not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Minnesota Planning or the state of Minnesota.

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[Destro]

Dismayed Americans contemplate Canada @

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/949120/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/949276/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/949455/posts

[Destro]

continuing our discussions from this thread: Boeing to cut up to 5,000 more jobs-sources

[bigfootbob]

I presume this is one of the dirty little secrets our government is keeping. I suspect this is why we keep seeing agricultural welfare packages that defy fiduciary responsibility.

[maro]

It's your land...for now. Look at what happened in Rhodesia.

[Destro]

Rhodeisa is different in the sense that the "Whites" "colonized and took the land from the natives", a simplistic hostory which I do not agree with but the natives do. In Brazil, a European origin peoples in terms of culture and blood (mixed as it is and I do not have a problem with that notion) will not go the way of Rhodesia. It may go communist but more than likely go socialist. But that would be the West's fault if that happens because it was the West that pushed such crushing loans on a Brazil that was not amture enough to take on such debt.

[LWalk18]

There was a group of former Confederates who left the US after the war and settled in Brazil...I cannot remember the name of the colony they founded but I know their descendants live there today.

[LWalk18]

Brazil has a large enough white population that its position is not really threatened. The same European immigrant wave that came to United States in the nineteenth also came to Brazil so that it is about 50% white today.

[Rebelbase]

Die-hard confederate soldiers and their families did this when the war ended.

[Kozy]

About 10,000 confederates ( if I remember the number correctly) migrated to Brazil after the War. They were given land in the northeastern part of Brazil to farm for cotton. The climate are very similiar. The colony was call America and still exists today. Actually the decendents of the original settlers are now sending their children back to America to learn of their roots during summer exchange programs.

[Rebelbase]

oops, didn't see yours before posting!

Yes there is a city called Americana that was founded by Confederates.

Today it is populated by many different nationalities. several years ago one of those nationalities complained that the stars and bars on the city seal was not representative of their culture, so the city officials removed it....Sound familiar?

[Destro]

Yup--when I posted the story of this Brazilian migration on FreeRepublic months ago I linked the Confederacy story. I will look for the link.

[Destro]

I found my original post! U.S. Farmers leave USA to Put Down Roots in Brazilian Soil

The reason I posted this current article was that the recent news of Americans leaving for Canada was made fun of by many posters. Mostly because the news slanted it to the left. But the news of American Farmers leaving for South America is not touched upon by Freepers...why?

It says much that my original post on this subject only got around 7 posts on it. Maybe we can't face up to it and avoid the issue? Too painful to contemplate? It has nice maps and a link to a page about the Confederate settlers history.

In my comments on I wrote then: Not since Confederate die hards left the restored Union and set up townships in Brazil: The Confederados: Old South Immigrants in Brazil....

This article disturbs me somehow. I can't describe why or how, but it does.

1 posted on 12/02/2002 11:03 PM PST by Destro

Please visit that original post and give it the attention it I think we all know the subject needs.

[Destro]

I remembered your words.....

[maxwellp]

I once worked at a dairy farm office here in Upstate New York. It was run by a young couple and his parents and was growing rapidly when I was hired. I was originally hired just part-time to file. As the farm grew to 600 cows I found myself working full-time to satisfy a government bureaucracy that required 8-page reports each time they shipped milk from one place to another. Count in employees leaving and filing for unemployment, workmens compensation filings and claims, IRS filings - in short, a complete bureaucratic nightmare. Then the farm had a small manure spill into a local creek. Along came the Environmental Protection Agency and some other alphabet agencies. I had to work overtime at that point in time. The family did tell me that they were thinking of re-locating to someplace like Brazil. I often thought that the farm employs about 20 employees, but how many government employees are employed to oversee farming operations? Yes, I can understand American farmers yearning to be free, but they should stay in America and fight to be free. Who's to say, if they go to Brazil, set up shop and succeed that one fine day Brazil will say "We want this farming operation to belong to the Brazilian people, not to Americans".

[maro]

Brazil is very different from 30 years ago when I lived there...such a chasm between poor and rich, and not much of a middle class in between...these are the breeding grounds for communism. Look at Lula. Bazil already is pretty socialist. I fear that there will be more redistribution. Land owners can't count on being exempt from the social turmoil.

[blam]

"It's your land...for now. Look at what happened in Rhodesia."

I agree.

In Rhodesia, the whites gave the best land to the blacks. The blacks in Zimbabwe still have problems working the hard soils worked by the whites.

There are already 'walled' communities in Brazil, I was just reading the other day about one of 30,000 residents who employ 1,200 private armed security guards. All non-residents who arrive/depart are searched. These are mainly white/European enclaves.

Brazil has the largest population of blacks outside Africa.

[blam]

Correction

"Brazil has the largest population of blacks of any country outside Africa."

[Destro]

apples and oranges--not the same thing--foolish if you think so.

[lelio]

such a chasm between poor and rich, and not much of a middle class in between...these are the breeding grounds for communism. Look at Lula. Bazil already is pretty socialist.

Are you talking about the future of the US? Who is getting hit hardest in the recent bout of offshoring and outsourcing? The middle class. Who is going to be left after its all said and done? The rich CEOs that used the system and the serfs that clean their pools.
Maybe there'll be a middle class in India (that's likely) or China (not so likely). But I can't see one lasting here.

[patriciaruth]

Cheery today, aren't we?

Every age has its problems and its adjustments. Great people don't just moan, they do something.