Do not disturb me with data & facts since I have already made up my mind

By Osler Desouzart (osler@odconsulting.com.br)

The question that was posed to me for answering in 500 words was: how the swine industry,

soybean production and the tropical rainforest interrelate in Brazil? Swine industry and soybean

production definitely interrelate for obvious reason since the base of pig and poultry nutrition in

Brazil is corn and soymeal. We do not use wheat, used for human nutrition and of which Brazil is a

net importer.

About the tropical rainforest I can only attribute to the European magnificent fixation with our

Amazon Forest. Since the Europeans have not asked our opinion when they used their forests to

the levels that in some European countries to see a tree you have to visit the Botanic Garden, I

constantly wonder why they feel entitled to speak about our forests when they failed to take care

of theirs. .

Brazil has the 5th

largest land area in the world1, the 2

nd largest forest coverage (61,2% versus

37,6% of European Union), including planted commercial forests that I have heard European

ecofanatics call "green deserts". Brazil uses 32,5% of its land for agriculture versus 44,6% of EU-27.

2

For those with good intentions it would be helpful a map of Brazil’s Geographical Regions and

Political Administrative Organization and another of the Brazilian biomes that can be found

bellow. The beloved Amazon Forest, which spreads over 8 different countries, is fundamentally in

the North Region of Brazil and the north part of the Center-West Region, which is where the

favorite photos of activists are normally taken.

Unfortunately in 500 words it is almost impossible to explain the difference between the diverse

Brazilian biomes, Geographical Regions and Political Regions but for those interested in knowledge

and not in slogan shouting note #3 indicates some basic sources of information.

1 FAOSTAT data considers 225 countries and territories

2 Source: Elaborated by ODConsulting based on data from FAOSTAT | © FAO Statistics Division 2013 | 07 May 2013

Forest area: Global Forest Resource Assessment 2010 (FRA 2010) is the main source of forest area data in FAOSTAT.

Data were provided by countries for years 1990, 2000, 2005 and 2010. Data for intermediate years were estimated

for FAO using linear interpolation and tabulation.

REGION

NORTH

NORTHEAST

CENTER-WEST

SOUTHEAST

SOUTH

3

Brazil expects to produce 82.063.500 tons of soybean this year and the North Region should

produce 3% of the total with its production concentrated mainly in the states of Tocantins (65%)

and Rondonia (21%)

4

3 Source: http://www.brasil.gov.br/sobre/environment/geography/brazilian-biomes-1/br_model1?set_language=en,

which contains information on the different Brazilian biomes. For those interested in learning more about the subject of

areas burnt for agricultural purpose I recommend Distribution Patterns of Burned Areas in the Brazilian Biomes: An

Analysis Based on Satellite Data for the 2002–2010 Period, by Fernando Moreira de Araújo *, Laerte Guimarães

Ferreira and Arielle Elias Arantes www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/4/7/1929/pd 4 Source: Elaborated by ODConsulting with data from CONAB - www.conab.gov.br

And contrary to the slogan affirmations that Brazil is increasing its soybean production through the

devastation of the Amazon forest, data demonstrate that increase in productivity has been the

main tool of production expansion.

As far as pig production is concerned, the South Region of Brazil concentrates 48,6% of the herd.

The North Region has 4% of the herd and very little consumption of pork, contrary to the South

and Southeast where Brazilians of Italian, Dutch, German and Japanese ancestry are concentrated,

whose fathers have brought us both the tradition of breeding and consumption when they

immigrated in the XIX and early XX centuries.

The distance between the South and North most state capitals of Brazil, Porto Alegre (Rio Grande

do Sul) and Manaus (Amazonas) is of 4563 km, almost the distance between Lisbon and Moscow.

Brazil has become an agricultural powerhouse. It may not please everybody, mainly our

competitors. But human diet is migrating from vegetal to animal products, which require four

times more natural resources to be produced, mainly water and arable land. The country has

abundance of these resources, photosynthesis and has developed a technology for agriculture and

livestock in tropical and moderate climate areas. Brazilian competitiveness in the agribusiness is

here to stay.

And a world where almost 7000 children per day are victims of malnutrition and related diseases

accessible food is needed.