Source: CropLife International

Soybean production has gone up in Brazil by a whopping 3,000 percent in the past 35 years and it is set to become the world’s number one producer of the crop this year. It is expected to harvest a record 90 million tonnes of soybeans in 2013-14 compared to 18 million tonnes in 1987-88. It is already the world’s largest soybean exporter.

Brazilian soybean has come a long way, but how? The country transitioned from military rule to a democratic government in the late 1980s, allowing for less government interference in the marketplace and the breakdown of trade barriers which meant the country was better able to import fertilizer, crop protection products and farm machinery. New government policies also made land available for soybean production and funded the development of different soybean varieties, including a tropical variety that was critical to expanding production in Mato Grosso – the fastest growing soybean region in Brazil.

The government’s regulatory support for biotech seeds has further enhanced the rapid increase in soybean production and Brazil’s national agricultural research organization, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA), has led efforts to improve soybean varieties. The research facility is currently developing a new type of genetically modified soybean resistant to drought which would benefit growers in southern Brazil who have experienced one of the hottest and driest summers of all time this year, although the crop is still undergoing trials.

In total biotech soybeans accounted for 88 percent of the total soybean hectares in Brazil in 2012.

Website: http://www.croplife.org

Published: June 4, 2014