HANCOCK COUNTY — Situated firmly as the world’s second-largest soybean producer and predicted in some quarters to soon surpass the United States for the top spot, it’s no wonder farmers in Brazil and the United States like to keep an eye on each other.
A few years ago, Hancock County farmer and Indiana Soybean Alliance Board member Jim Cherry threw in with a contingent of American growers to visit Brazil to view farming and growing operations there.
Wednesday, about 40 Brazilian soybean farmers and agricultural representatives stopped their charter bus at Cherry’s 3,000-acre corn and soybean operation off CR 100S on a 10-day trip through the Midwest to return the favor.
Sponsored by a local agricultural co-op in Mato Grasso, one of two major Brazilian soybean producing states and the third-largest in the South American country, the visiting farmers listened to and queried their Hoosier counterparts on topics ranging from government involvement in the agriculture industry to farm ownership.
On the former topic, farmers from both hemispheres uniformly agreed farming would be best left to the farmers without the assistance of Washington or Brasilia.
“The American farmer wants the government out of agriculture,” Cherry told the group. “There is now more worldwide demand, and we’re more interested now in the government just letting us grow our crop. We’ll sell it.”
Cezar Bronzel, a grower from Campo Mourao in Parana, Brazil’s other soybean-producing powerhouse, echoed a similar sentiment from farmers in his country.
“The government does not work for us,” he said.
Farm ownership, however, was a completely different matter, Bronzel said.
In his country, the majority of farmland is farmer-owned, and the concept of leasing crop land from others was more than a bit foreign to him, he said.
When Cherry explained that only about half to one-third of Corn Belt cropland was owned by the farmer who worked it, Bronzel, wearing a headset and communicating through an interpreter, was visibly confused by the notion.
“He thinks it’s crazy someone owns the land but does not farm it,” the interpreter said.
The amount of land in Brazil is one of the factors that has allowed the country’s soybean production to explode in recent years.
Terry Vissing, who farms 1,500 acres near Marysville in Southeastern Indiana, was one of the American farmers who visited Brazil.
“We don’t have the land you have,” said Vissing, who was part of the American contingent Wednesday. “We drove 100 miles there without seeing a town. We don’t have that here.”
That amount of arable land allowed Brazil to move 6.57 million metric tons of soybeans to market in June, which was down from a record 7.95 million metric tons in May, according to Minneapolis-based Corn & Soybean Digest.
That competition for a piece of the world market was not far from the surface of discussion at Wednesday’s meeting, and both sides agreed there were no significant trade issues, as long as everyone received equal treatment from governments and suppliers.
“There’s plenty of room for everyone,” said Huntington County corn and bean grower Jerry Osterholt, who works a farm near Roanoke, southwest of Fort Wayne.
Cherry, a fourth-generation farmer who works his operation with his sons, said his prime concern was simply that farmers in both countries operate on a level playing field.
“I want everyone to do well,” he said, smiling. “I just want to make sure I’m doing as well as they are.”
Given a maintenance barn full of farmers, however, the conversation ultimately turned to farming, pure and simple.
Nematodes, planting seasons, replanting, land prices, development pressure from nearby cities and soil quality were all among the topics on farmers’ minds – as well as what appears to be a universal quest to keep the kids on the farm.
“In Brazil, our young people are all going to university,” said Paulo Diaz. “They do not want to learn about the farm.”
Over a farm lunch of barbecued pork, baked beans, cole slaw and – what else – apple pie (with an ample sampling of chocolate-covered, homegrown, Midwestern soybeans on the side), it became clear that regardless of which America one farms, there’s more to life than simply soybeans and corn.
Fernando Becker, a 25-year-old chemical engineer, soil sampler and farmer, follows and was impressed with the Indianapolis 500.
And as Brazil prepares to host the World Cup in 2014, the visitors bragged on their national soccer team, which will be one of the favorites in the tournament.
But when all was said and done, there was also a mutual respect.
“They’re good farmers,” Cherry said. “We all have the same opportunities.”