Our trip to Brazil is being planned for January 9th to January 18th. Out of the US on the 9th back into the US on the 18th. The cost is $4800 per person, double occupancy. This is all inclusive and includes the international flights, domestic travel, tours and guides, hotels and meals. This may be tax deductable so ask your tax man. This is our 10th year of leading tours into Brazil for US ag-businessman. Our goal is to expose our US agri-tourists to the cultures of Brazil, and show them as many different types of agriculture as we can in a one week time. We want our tourists to learn the specifics about farm practices, taxation, investment, technology and logistics…first hand by seeing actual operations, meeting US and Brazil operators in Brazil face to face to ask and answer questions. Most nights we invite our hosts to join us for dinner so that more conversation and learning can be had. Many lasting friendships get developed both with fellow travelers and Brazilians.
We are looking at flying out the evening of the 9th of January, probably out of Indy for your specific group on an overnight flight and landing in Brasilia on the 10th to start our tour. We have groups joining us from Kansas, New York, possibly Minnesota and Illinois. Luciana Silva, a former Advance employee, and a current Cargill employee will join us as our local translator. The language spoken is Portuguese.
We have a tour bus picking us up upon arrival at the airport on the 10th and will start with a City tour of Brasilia. Brasilia is the capital of Brazil, built by World Bank back in the 60’s and has a very uniquely designed shape resembling an airplane. We will visit the Presidential Palace, government ministries, several unique architectural government building, famous historical monuments, etc…The idea is to learn some more about Brazilian history. We will spend the night in the city of Brasilia. Eating dinner at our hotel.
On the 11th - After a breakfast at the hotel, it is our plan to visit Embrapa (www.embrapa.br/english). This is the government agriculture research and development group working on all sustainable agriculture systems. They will give us an overview of Brazil Cerrado, land structures and types, production, GMO laws, rain patterns, environmental philosophies., etc… They have test plots for everything from soybeans to fruit and sugar cane. Embrapa is developmental in many new technologies in Brazil. This is a very thorough educational visit on an overview of Brazilian agriculture. After a lunch we will have time to visit a nearby orange farm in the afternoon. Dinner and drinks and travel to Formossa, heading northeast of Brasilia.
On the 12th - After a breakfast at the hotel, we will take the bus to tour a Pioneer seed corn plant. This is one of the most modern seed facilities in Brazil and less than 5 years old. Here we will learn about Pioneer’s entrance into the Brazil market, why Bahia is excellent for corn production , more on seed and commercial corn production and GMO trends in Brazil. Lunch at a local restaurant in a small town outside of Formossa, then off to a specialty grain facility. They gather, clean, package and sell into the local domestic food industries; corn, various edible soybeans, sorghum and other “direct from the farm” commodities. They are also a large farmer in the area and will share their story and history of their family settling from Italy to growing corn, edibles etc….in the state of Goiania. Dinner/drinks/overnight in Formossa.
On the 13th - After a breakfast we will head up the famous BR020. This is the first tour we have led this far north of Brasilia in Brazil. It is a major road, though only a two lane blacktop, and would eventually lead to the ocean in Salvador some 16 hours later. There is a lot of truck traffic with production moving out of Bahia and inputs moving back in. There are a lot of grazing cattle in this area as Brazil is known for their grass fed beef. It is unusually good, different than US corn fed, but still good none-the-less. Most cattle in this area will be Zebu or Brahma genetics, either pure line or crossed with a European line. These genetics seem to do best in the Bahia heat. Bahia is known for its very seasonal rainfall. Areas are known to get 76 inches of rain in about a 7 month period. The far west side of the state of Bahia is by far the best rainfall and therefore production. This is the area of travel we will concentrate on and the heart of Bahia agriculture.
As you enter into Bahia you will feel the bus ascending onto a plateau. This is what gives western Bahia its heavy rainfall that makes it a good producer of all products, corn, beans, fruit, coffee, vegetables, along with edible beans, rice and assorted livestock. Storms hit this plateau and spill out their rains over the western portion of the state. The group will tour a cattle ranch and a large coffee plantation on our way into Bahia. The coffee operates under a huge irrigation project. There is electricity now in this part of the state, though not likely over 5 years old. Much of this area was and some still is Cerrado. A very acidic soil that has small crab apple sized trees that get cleared with a bulldozer and a chain and then gets burnt. Much lime is needed to neutralize this soil, making it highly productive. The group will learn about the environmental steps Brazil takes in establishing fixed set-aside acreage that each farm must have to maintain in natural growth.
On the 14th - After breakfast, we will travel to the city of Posse. The escarpment follows the state line here between the states of Goias and Bahia. In Posse the group will meet with a local agronomist to learn about soil nutrition, rust and other agronomical subjects. Then a visit to a large Western European farm operation that is investing in sugar cane ethanol and cotton ginning. While ethanol production is new to the area, specific varieties of sugar cane are being developed to withstand the dryness of the off-season in Bahia. North and east of Bahia, along the coast, is the second largest population bases in Brazil. This makes Bahia ideally located to supply corn and meal for their integrated chicken operations; fruit, vegetables, edible beans and rice just in time for domestic consumers. In the city of Rosario, there is a new cotton gin that we will tour. Bahia has become the number one cotton state in Brazil because of its ideal soils and weather patterns for production. The Bahia cotton is a high quality, longer fiber product that often goes for export to Europe or China. All international firms have operations present in Bahia for purchasing, ginning and exporting of cotton. Our group will learn about “the sugar experience” and growing cotton in Brazil. Both of these are very expensive crops for inputs but also often have the best returns.
On the 15th and 16th - Our bus makes its way into the northern most city on our tour in northern Bahia. The city is named after a famous politician, Luiz Eduardo Magahlinus, today known as LEM but formerly known as Mimossa. We will remain here for two days. Here we will have dinner in one of Brazil’s chuhascaria restaurants. This is where they have a huge salad bar and then waiters serve you personally multiple cuts of many different kinds of meat and fish directly off of grilling skewers. These have become popular in the United States with chains from Brazil such as Fogo de Chao. The city has grown phenomenally to a city of almost 150,000 people with the growth of agriculture in the region. Less than 15 years ago the only thing established on the city site was a truck stop! Today there are multiple grain, fertilizer and chemical companies on every corner. Every equipment and tractor dealership is represented, all the majors from the US and a few from other parts of the world. We will find time to call on some Brazilian made equipment both red and green. LEM is an agricultural Mecca with trucks hauling product in and out continually. Here we will tour and meet many different types of ag operations. LEM has recently acquired a livestock kill floor and there are plans being made for both ethanol and bio-diesel production. Our group will visit this tax incentive district and meet with several of the managers. The group will travel the famous “bean ring” and “coffee ring”, a huge territory with investors in ag operations from all of the world. In this area there are farms from Australia, Spain, France, Italy, US, Germany, Japan and China to name a few. This is a melting pot of agriculture if you will with some famous investors such as Georg Sorres, who bought a farm nearby within the last two years. We will tour the newest investment in Brazil of the Australian Wheat Board, a large terminal for buying and storing grains and inputs. Near LEM Crossroads Group International has a brand new farm operation in which they will be planting cotton during our visit there. I am associated with this group and am one of three managing partners on it and Aaron Howell, one of the managing partners on sight has kindly offered to receive us. Aaron is a transplant in Brazil from Indiana. He and his wife Katy were newly married and whisked off to their new challenge in Brazil. He will be a wealth of knowledge in telling us first hand of the US experience in Brazil. This is our first visit with a group to our farm and we are proud to have you. We will also be visiting other farm operations in the region: including a papaya production farm, some other American farms in Brazil. During our time in LEM we will take time to see a famous waterfall in a Federal park, among other nature items.
We are planning on saving the 17th as a day of rest and relaxation prior to heading out on your flight back to the US. Posadas are resort hotels and likely we will include a visit to one prior to returning. We will make time for shopping, site seeing and relaxing.
Hopefully by the 17th you will go home knowing more about Brazil agriculture and just plain old culture. You will have made friends on two continents that you will stay in touch with on into the future. Last year I attended two tour reunions of groups that have maintained contact long after the plane landed.
Please feel to call with any special interests or comments regarding the trip as we can often fit these in. My number is 800-664-2306.
