**Explanations for the Rise of Soybean in Brazil**

Eduardo Antonio Gavioli

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51678

**1. Introduction**

### **1.1. Historical developments of Soybean Culture**

Early reports indicate that the soybean culture came to Brazil around 1882, to the state of Bahia where the Teacher Gustavo Dutra conducted the first studies to evaluate cultivars. Be‐ tween 1900 and 1901, the Agronomic Institute (IAC), in Campinas, São Paulo state, promot‐ ed the first distribution of soybean seeds to producers in the state.

In this same period, soybean culture reached the state of "Rio Grande do Sul", where climat‐ ic conditions are similar to the southern U.S. The original introductory varieties came from the southern U.S. Soybean production first occurred in the city of Santa Rosa in the state of "Rio Grande do Sul", in 1914 [1]. Research began during the 1930's with the following breeding objectives: increased productivity; greater plant height and appropriate pod height to facilitate mechanization; development of lodging and pest resistance, and increased seed quality with high oil yield and protein [3].

The first national farm statistics, the Agricultural Yearbook of the "Rio Grande do Sul" state, was published in 1941 and indicated that the production area of only 640 hectares generated 450 tons. By 1949, the production in Brazil had grown to 25,000 tons. This was the first time that Brazilian production figures were recorded in international statistics. By 1970, soybean production had spread throughout the temperate and sub-tropical latitudes (near or above the 30⁰S Lat).

During the 1970's, soybean was established as the main crop of the Brazilian agribusiness, rising from 15 million metric tons to over 15million metric tons. There was an increase of the cultivated areafrom 1.3 to 8.8 million hectares, and of the productivity from 1.14 to 1.73 t / ha. Soybean culture was concentrated in the southern region of the country, with more than 80% of the total production [1].

© 2013 Gavioli; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2013 Gavioli; licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Several factors contributed to the establishment and development of the soybean culture in southern Brazil: similarity with southern U.S, the region from which soybeans were intro‐ duced to Brazil; introduction of liming and correction of soil fertility; tax incentives; in‐ creased use of vegetable oil vs. animal fats; establishment of a significant industrial soybean processing infrastructure; crop mechanization; emergence of dynamic and efficient coopera‐ tives; establishment of a well-coordinated network of research; and improvements in roads, ports and communications [1].

Another important factor that explains the rise of soybean production in southern Brazil was that prevailing photoperiod and temperature characteristics directly influenced pheno‐ logical development and yield. Spread of soybeans out of this region to central and northern Brazil and lower latitudes would depend on the development of new phonologically adapt‐ ed varieties to these areas [2].

Brazil is located in the eastern part of South America between 5°16' N and 33º44' S latitudes (Figure 1). Photoperiod differences between the southern and northern portions of the coun‐ try have inhibited the expansion of soybean from the original southern base to central and northern Brazil.

**Figure 1.** Map of Brazil, with its divisions into states, positioned in the South American continent between the paral‐ lels of 5°16' N and 33º44' S latitudes.

Research development of varieties adapted to these new areas of production began at the Agronomic Institute (IAC) in Campinas, ''São Paulo'' State, and the National Center for Soy‐ bean Research. In the 1970s, breeding studies were initiated from crosses of North American cultivars, which had the long juvenile trait. Thousands of genotypes are maintained in the Embrapa soybean (CNPSo) germplasm bank in Londrina, ''Paraná'' State. The Brazilian Ag‐ ricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) is under the Ministry of Agriculture. Its mission is to facilitate solutions for research, development and innovation for sustainable agriculture for the benefit of the Brazilian society. The National Center of Soybean Research (CNPSo) is a unit of Embrapa.

The entire germplasm collection is maintained at the Embrapa Genetic Resources in Brasília (Brazil's capital). Most of these accessions are plant introductions from North America which are derived from original plant introductions from China, Japan and other countries with wide genetic diversification [4].

### **1.2. Expansion of Culture**

Several factors contributed to the establishment and development of the soybean culture in southern Brazil: similarity with southern U.S, the region from which soybeans were intro‐ duced to Brazil; introduction of liming and correction of soil fertility; tax incentives; in‐ creased use of vegetable oil vs. animal fats; establishment of a significant industrial soybean processing infrastructure; crop mechanization; emergence of dynamic and efficient coopera‐ tives; establishment of a well-coordinated network of research; and improvements in roads,

A Comprehensive Survey of International Soybean Research - Genetics, Physiology, Agronomy and Nitrogen

Another important factor that explains the rise of soybean production in southern Brazil was that prevailing photoperiod and temperature characteristics directly influenced pheno‐ logical development and yield. Spread of soybeans out of this region to central and northern Brazil and lower latitudes would depend on the development of new phonologically adapt‐

Brazil is located in the eastern part of South America between 5°16' N and 33º44' S latitudes (Figure 1). Photoperiod differences between the southern and northern portions of the coun‐ try have inhibited the expansion of soybean from the original southern base to central and

**Figure 1.** Map of Brazil, with its divisions into states, positioned in the South American continent between the paral‐

ports and communications [1].

ed varieties to these areas [2].

lels of 5°16' N and 33º44' S latitudes.

northern Brazil.

Relationships

342

Because of Brazil's research efforts, developed cultivars were adapted to the short photoper‐ iods of central and northern Brazil. This allowed the soybean expansion to the Cerrado re‐ gion of Brazil, an area of more than 200 million hectares of undeveloped potential crop land. Brazil is now the second biggest soybean producer in the world with an average yield close to 3,000 kg/ha.

The world and Brazilian production, supply, and trade of soybeans are presented in Tables 1 and 2, respectively, from the 2006/2007 to 2009/2010 growing seasons. Brazil is established as the second largest producer, only behind the United States, and now contributes with about 33% of the world's exported soybean. In the case of end-of-year stocks, the Brazilian product represented approximately 29% of the world supply. During this four-year period, Brazil produced an annual average of 232,550 million metric tons of soybeans, which ac‐ counted for 26.50% ofthe world production (61.70 million tons).


**Table 1.** World balance of supply and demand for soybeans in thousands of metric tons.Source: USDA. Preparation: [5].

In the 2010/2011 season, Brazilian soybean production rose to 75.0 million metric tons, cov‐ ering a cultivated area of 24.2 million hectares and an average yield of 3,106 kg/ha. "Mato Grosso" was the state with the greatest production (20.4 million metric tons), cultivated area (6.4 million hectares), and yield (3,190 kg/ha)."Paraná" state was the second largest produc‐ er, with production of 15.4 million metric tons, cultivated area of 4.6 million ha and yield of 3,360 kg/ha [6].


**Table 2.** Brazilian balance of supply and demand for soybeansin thousands of metric tons.Source: USDA. Preparation: [5].

In the most recent growing season (2011/2012), Brazil produced around 66.5 million tons fro‐ man area of 24.7 million hectares, with an average yield of 2,692 kg/ha [6]. The decrease on the production was due to a severe drought that occurred throughout the soybean-growing region. Soybean occupied about 48.9% of Brazil's cropland in that growing season and con‐ tributed to about 42% of the country's agricultural output. The central states of"Mato Gros‐ so, Mato Grosso do Sul and Goiás", with more than 10 million hectares, represent approximately half of all Brazil's soybean cultivated area.

Many factors contributed to the establishment of soybean, firstly in southern Brazil (in the 1960's and 1970's) and later in the Cerrado region of central Brazil (in the 1980's and 1990's) [1]. With respect to the central region of Brazil, the wide and rapid soybean acceptance can be attributed to:

Transfer of the national capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brazil's interior in the 1960's, what resulted in a great deal of infrastructure construction including roads, communication, and economic development;

Tax incentives were made available for open new areas of agricultural production, as well as for the acquisition of machinery and construction of silos and warehouses;

Establishment of agro-industries in the region, stimulated by the tax incentives that expand‐ ed the agricultural frontier;

Low land values in the central region compared to the southern region during the 1960-1980 period, encouraging the purchase of new farms;

The relatively plain topography of the Cerrado, which was highly favorable to agricultur‐ al mechanization;

In the 2010/2011 season, Brazilian soybean production rose to 75.0 million metric tons, cov‐ ering a cultivated area of 24.2 million hectares and an average yield of 3,106 kg/ha. "Mato Grosso" was the state with the greatest production (20.4 million metric tons), cultivated area (6.4 million hectares), and yield (3,190 kg/ha)."Paraná" state was the second largest produc‐ er, with production of 15.4 million metric tons, cultivated area of 4.6 million ha and yield of

A Comprehensive Survey of International Soybean Research - Genetics, Physiology, Agronomy and Nitrogen

**Balance 2006/2007 2007/2008 2008/2009 2009/2010** Initial stock 16.641 18.189 18.898 12.037 Production 59.000 61.000 57.800 69.000 Imports 53.000 150.000 44.000 185.000 Total supply 75.694 79.339 76.742 81.222 Exports 23.485 25.364 29.986 28.350 Consumer 34.020 35.077 34.719 36.175 Final stock 18.189 18.898 12.037 16.697

**Table 2.** Brazilian balance of supply and demand for soybeansin thousands of metric tons.Source: USDA. Preparation:

In the most recent growing season (2011/2012), Brazil produced around 66.5 million tons fro‐ man area of 24.7 million hectares, with an average yield of 2,692 kg/ha [6]. The decrease on the production was due to a severe drought that occurred throughout the soybean-growing region. Soybean occupied about 48.9% of Brazil's cropland in that growing season and con‐ tributed to about 42% of the country's agricultural output. The central states of"Mato Gros‐ so, Mato Grosso do Sul and Goiás", with more than 10 million hectares, represent

Many factors contributed to the establishment of soybean, firstly in southern Brazil (in the 1960's and 1970's) and later in the Cerrado region of central Brazil (in the 1980's and 1990's) [1]. With respect to the central region of Brazil, the wide and rapid soybean acceptance can

Transfer of the national capital from Rio de Janeiro to Brazil's interior in the 1960's, what resulted in a great deal of infrastructure construction including roads, communication, and

Tax incentives were made available for open new areas of agricultural production, as well as

Establishment of agro-industries in the region, stimulated by the tax incentives that expand‐

Low land values in the central region compared to the southern region during the 1960-1980

for the acquisition of machinery and construction of silos and warehouses;

approximately half of all Brazil's soybean cultivated area.

3,360 kg/ha [6].

Relationships

344

[5].

be attributed to:

economic development;

ed the agricultural frontier;

period, encouraging the purchase of new farms;

Good physical soil condition in the region; Improvements in the transport system, such as road, railway, and water transport that aided the marketing of soybean and other crops grown in the region;

New farmers, from southern Brazil, moving into the area, who already had a high technical knowledge of soybean production;

Rainfall in the region, which is highly favorable for summer crops, in contrast to the fre‐ quent dry spells occurring in the South, notably in "Rio Grande do Sul" [1].

Currently, soybean (*Glycine max* (L.) Merrill) is cultivated in almost all regions of the coun‐ try. The biggest innovation that has aided the extension of soybean production across this vast north/south expanse was the development of the long juvenile trait.

The creation of CNPSo - Embrapa in 1975 consolidated the soybean research and greatly en‐ hanced its production and quality. The transfer of this new technology to the farmers aided the expansion of soybean in Brazil. During the 1980's and 1990's soybean expanded again, this time into the tropical region in central Brazil.

From only 2% of the national production in 1970, soybean production in Mato Grosso in central Brazil expanded to 20% of the production in 1980, and then to 40% and 58% in 1990 and 2002, respectively. This transformation has promoted the state of "Mato Grosso" to the national leader on the production and yield of soybean [1].

Data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) demonstrates the ex‐ pansion of cultivation into the interior of the country in the period between 1976 and 2012 (Figure 2).

**Figure 2.** Brazilian soybean area in two regions in the period between 1976 and 2012. Source: [6].

Data for soybean production in two regions are shown in Figure 3 for the period between 1976 and 2012. The production increase in central Brazil made it the largest soybean produc‐ er in the country.

The southern region, which consists of "Rio Grande do Sul", "Paraná", and "Santa Catari‐ na", is now the second biggest producer. The stunning increase in soybean production dur‐ ing this period is similar to the rise of sugar cane during the colonial period and the rise of coffee during the Empire era.

The explosive growth of soybean production in Brazil (30 fold increase across a 30-year peri‐ od) has profoundly changed the Brazilian agriculture. It has boosted farming activities; modernization of the transport system; expansion of the agricultural frontier; professionali‐ zation and expansion of the international trade; modification and enrichment of the Brazil‐ ian diet; acceleration of the country'surbanization;and population movement from coastal to the interior areas [1].

By the 2010/2011 growing season, soybean production had reached the equatorial region of northern Brazil. Thus, a crop that originally was grown only in southern Brazil became well established in central Brazil and continued to advance into northern Brazil.

Data in Figure 4 shows that 82% of production come from the states of "Mato Grosso", "Par‐ aná", "Rio Grande do Sul' and "Goiás".

However, 13% of soybean production come from the northern state "Tocantins" and the northeast states "Maranhão", "Piauí" and"Bahia".

**Figure 3.** Brazilian soybean production in two regions, in the period between 1976 and 2012. Source: [6].

**Figure 4.** Brazilian soybean production in 2010/2011 harvest, divided among the states with the highest percentage of harvested grains. Source: [7].
