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(American Farmers) Planting themselves in Brazil
LA Times ^ | 30 November 2006 | Marla Dickerson

Posted on 11/30/2006 5:30:55 AM PST by shrinkermd

WHEN Brian Willott moved to these central Brazilian plains to fulfill his dream of farming, there was much to remind him of the home he left in the American heartland.

The sign at the end of a dirt lane proclaimed his rented land "Fazenda Kansas," Portuguese for "Kansas Farm." The flat fields stretching to the horizon teemed with cotton and soybeans. Billboards boasted familiar names such as Cargill, Monsanto and John Deere.

But the going hasn't been as smooth as the level terrain. U.S. farmers have been the targets of squatters, thieves and scammers. Willott has discovered that slave labor still exists in the region. And there have been challenges few Midwesterners ever encounter: piranhas, deadly vipers and dengue fever.

You'd have to forgive Willott if he said, "We're aren't in Kansas anymore."

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: brazil; emigrate; farmers; farming
"...ESTIMATES of how many U.S. farmers have relocated to Brazil range from a few dozen to a few hundred. But the migration speaks to a staid American industry that is all but closed to newcomers.

...Prime farm ground in the U.S. Midwest can sell for as much as $5,000 an acre, but sizable tracts rarely come on the market even at those prices.

...In Brazil, land ready to farm can be had for $750 an acre and virgin soil for $100 or less an acre. And there is plenty of it. Nearly 100 million acres of scrubland known as cerrado in Brazil's interior have been converted into productive farm ground, most in the last 25 years. It's the biggest addition of arable land on the planet since homesteaders plowed the American prairie. But unlike the U.S. Midwest, the cerrado isn't close to being settled. Yet Brazil is already an agricultural superpower

1 posted on 11/30/2006 5:30:57 AM PST by shrinkermd
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To: shrinkermd
Dumb and dumber.
2 posted on 11/30/2006 5:34:05 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (BTUs are my Beat.)
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To: shrinkermd

Brazil is almost the size of the United States (even with Alaska) and has a climate much more conducive to farming than the American Rockies-area, Alaska, and New England. However, the Amazon rain forest is nutrient-poor, and it should be protected.


3 posted on 11/30/2006 5:37:21 AM PST by Jedi Master Pikachu ( For the Republic.)
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To: shrinkermd

Brazil's turning their sugarcane into biodiesel is impressive, though they will not be a global superpower any time soon. You need way more than agriculture for that.


4 posted on 11/30/2006 5:38:55 AM PST by Jedi Master Pikachu ( For the Republic.)
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To: shrinkermd

Brazil's turning their sugarcane into biodiesel is impressive, though they will not be a global superpower any time soon. You need way more than agriculture for that.


5 posted on 11/30/2006 5:39:00 AM PST by Jedi Master Pikachu ( For the Republic.)
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To: shrinkermd
Plus, the Brazilians are, by and large, as wacky as these guys. From the BBC.
6 posted on 11/30/2006 5:46:21 AM PST by Jedi Master Pikachu ( For the Republic.)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

Russia is in need of people, and has lots of land for cultivation.... Why don't we move there?

If it weren't for their political system, it might make some sense.


7 posted on 11/30/2006 5:54:28 AM PST by Brilliant
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To: Brilliant
Russia grows cabbages. Ukraine grows grain.
8 posted on 11/30/2006 6:15:22 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (BTUs are my Beat.)
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