Sth american 2011 farm tour report (2)

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AUSTRALIAN FARMERS STUDY TOUR SOUTH AMERICA 27 JUNE to 31 JULY 2011 Tour Leader; Greg Cahill Agricultural Consultant Bendigo, Victoria This report has been prepared to assist tour members and their accountants with personal claims by summarising our study tour, which included visits to numerous farms, an abattoir, machinery dealers, research stations and other agricultural facilities.

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Tour Report by Greg Cahill

Transcript of Sth american 2011 farm tour report (2)

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AUSTRALIAN FARMERS STUDY TOUR

SOUTH AMERICA

27 JUNE to 31 JULY 2011

Tour Leader; Greg Cahill

Agricultural Consultant

Bendigo, Victoria

This report has been prepared to assist tour members and their accountants with personal claims by summarising our study tour, which included visits to numerous farms, an abattoir, machinery dealers, research stations and other agricultural facilities.

SUMMARY

The 2011 South American farm tour was a great experience for everyone, and a real learning opportunity as few people realised how progressive agriculture is in certain parts of SA, particularly Argentina and Brazil. The tour was very well

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organised and run. We visited 18 different farms and 15 other sites which included research stations, machinery businesses, Co-operatives, saleyards, abattoirs etc. The program was very full on and often we did not get back to our hotel till after 8pm at night. In fact, it was too full on for some people who would have liked more leisure time, but everything considered, the farmers in the group thoroughly enjoyed every visit we did. The volcano did alter the program on several occasions but people adapted very well so that we could stick to the planned itinerary.

A few examples of agricultural practices that we saw and which surprised many people were the advanced no-till cropping systems they have developed which allow the farmers to multi-crop – that is get 3-5 crops per rotation every 2-5 years in regions where the climate allows this. This has increased productivity 3-4 fold in the past 10 years.

Another example was the advanced, computerised breeding programs being used in SA. These are available and used in Australia, but there is not the widespread use here as it seems to be in SA, in spite of the simple and obvious benefits to livestock breeders. The third area where SA is one of the world leaders is the use of self made biofuels.

Finally, the use of huge plastic tubes to store grain and silage was also an eye opener as they are virtually unknown here. This is a widespread tactic in many parts of SA but, on returning to Australia, I discovered that a Wimmera farmer had only 2 years ago, imported the first tubes from SA to test market them here. It has been quite successful and since then, he has expanded the business and is now advertising on TV. It is a cheap and practical alternative to our normal grain storage metal bins which Australian farmers are used to.

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In summary, it was a very successful, educational tour and there is no doubt that South America is going to be a major player in future in many of the world’s farming industries.

Monday 27 June, 2011

Thirty six tour members from Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia flew from Sydney, Australia to Santiago in Chile where we met up with our Principal Tour Leader, Michael Barker, who took us to our hotel. The tour was meant to leave Australia on Sunday 26 June and fly to Santiago via Auckland, NZ, but due to volcanic clouds in the region, the flight was put back 24 hours and redirected to Tahiti then on to Santiago.

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CHILE

Some Background Information about Chile and its agriculture.

1. Chile has a population of 16 million people which includes Easter Island, of which 6-7 million live in Santiago. The country is about 4,200kms long on the west of the Andes mountain range which has about 2000 volcanoes along it.

2. The country has about 1.3 million ha of cultivated land, which is not expanding. Of this, 240,000 ha are used for fruit production, mainly cherries, walnuts and plums,120,000 ha of vineyards, which is a growing industry in Chile (they are trialling a lot of new varieties), 50,000 ha for seed production of various crops and the rest is mainly used for vegetables and grain production.

3. Most agricultural exports go to the USA and Asia. The first Chilean export used to be guano, a natural fertiliser made from bird dung, which was sent to the UK. This got refined over the years, using natural nitrates but this whole industry collapsed when the Germans invented and started selling synthetic fertilisers.

4. Irrigation for crops mainly comes from underground bores, using USA systems. Around Santiago (where the annual rainfall is only about 300ml/yr), these bores used to be about 20 metres deep on average but now the average is about 50 metres deep. Farmers pay about US$2000 per year for all their water, regardless of how much they use, but this price is steadily rising.

5. The average wage in Chile is about US$3000/month, with the minimum wage being US$350/month. Income taxes are 7% plus there are additional taxes to cover Pension, Superannuation schemes and Social Security Programs.

6. In Chile, 85% of people are Catholic with the rest being mainly Lutheran. Shops are open from 9am-8pm on trading days whereas shopping centre hours are 10am-10pm.

Tuesday 28 June 2011.We had an early start this morning as we had 3 visits planned. Our local guide was Patricio Diaz, a local Advisory officer with the Ministry of Agriculture.The first visit was to a farm about 30kms south of Santiago, owned and run by Samuel Correa and his family. The farm was 50ha in size and was mainly a fruit growing enterprise. The farm has 6 full time employees and 20-50 part-time

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workers in the pruning and harvesting seasons. These workers get about US$25/day but Sam said it was increasingly difficult to get part-time workers.His main crop is Table grapes (12ha – Thompson seedless and Crimson seedless varieties) which produce about 36,000kgs/ha/yr for which the grower gets about $1.10/kg. Most of this is exported to Europe and Asia). They use a Spanish system of growing them. Other crops include nectarines (4ha), cherries (a new crop, 4ha), plums (7ha) and peaches (4 ha). He is also trialling new crops such as macadamia nuts and pistachio nuts. One big problem they have is birds eating the fruit. Netting is not used to protect the trees but it is being trialled and soon will probably be used. They do have a special product which is sprayed on the fruit trees to stop the birds but it is not 100% effective.PHOTO 2Another enterprise on the farm is the breeding and training of rodeo horses. In Chile the rodeos are different to the normal ones in that one of the main objectives is to herd and control cattle in the rodeo ring. To achieve this, the Chileans have bred a special type of horse (a Xbred from a Spanish Andalusian breed and a Peruvian breed) which can move sideways and control a cow up against a fence or wall. These horses are quite short-legged but very muscular and we saw them being exercised and trained. These special horses sell for about US$30,000 each, with stallions fetching up to US$80,000.

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PHOTO 3

The second visit was to Los Tilos INIA, the National Agricultural Research Institute run by the Ministry of Agriculture. It is a combination of a research station, a nursery (it is the oldest nursery in Chile) and an educational centre where they teach people to grow and graft fruit and nut trees. The main crop is walnuts using mainly USA varieties as Chilean varieties produce well but the nuts are too small for what the market wants. The walnut plantations yield about 5,500kg/ha which brings in about US$22,000/ha. They have developed new pruning methods which has significantly increased production. A walnut tree generally last for 50-60 years, before being replaced. The old trees are used for furniture timber.Walnuts are an increasing crop in Chile. Five years ago, there were 14,000ha but this has now increased to 24,000ha.

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Besides walnuts, they are also experimenting and growing other crops such as table grapes, pistachios, squash, feijoas chestnuts, pecans and various fruit crops.

The third visit for the day was to the Santa Rita Winery which was established in 1880. The Chilean wine industry is known world wide and is a competitor of Australia for markets in Europe and America. We had a tour of their winemaking facilities which included old underground cellars that had been affected by earthquakes over the years. The company has over 200 employees and produces 20 million litres of wine per year. They still use wine barrels imported from Europe to age and store their wine. They are continually trying new varieties from across the world to test them for their ongoing markets.

Wednesday 29 June 2011Another busy day commenced with a visit to a flower farm. Owned and run by Mr Arturo Catalan and his family, the 6ha property produced carnation flowers in plastic houses. There were a range of colours but the majority were red due to the demand. The main production period was from September to December, after which the plants were pruned. A carnation plant produces about 14 flowers per year, mainly in the springtime and they are usually harvested once a week. All the flowers come from Europe as Chile has very few native flowers but the demand for them continues to grow. Prices vary from 20cents to US$2 per unit. The main buyers are cemeteries but he does sell to local houses and shops. The business also rents a neighbouring 4ha place on which they grow potatoes for the local market. He employs 2 people full time from September to November to help with the harvesting.The second visit was to a 20ha vegetable farm, owned and run by Don Luis Gomez and his family. The farm grows pumpkins, cauliflowers, broccoli and sweet corn. He also has his own packing shed where he employs up to 15 people to pack the produce and deliver it to supermarkets. He buys vegetables from neighbouring farmers for packaging and selling. There are no contracts and prices are determined by what the market is paying on the day. Residue leaves left after packaging are used to feed cattle.

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Land is very expensive in these good soil areas, with prices currently about US$30,000 per ha. Another big issue facing farmers in several SA countries is inheritance taxes. If a farmer dies and the land is passed on to his children, they have to pay quite huge inheritance taxes. The way around this is to subdivide the land or farm and pass over the ownership before you die. In this way, you don’t pay this tax. The downside to this is that the “farms’ are getting smaller and smaller. In Don Gomez’s case, his uncle inherited a small block next to Don’s on which he runs a few horses. Don’s mother still lives in the neighbouring family home and here she invited us all in to have a cup of tea.We then travelled to the nearby Casablanca valley to visit a rodeo horse breeding and training farm. Rodeos are very popular in Chile and Argentina and it is a big industry. This particular farm was established in 1880 to train UK bred racehorses. They swapped to South American bred rodeo horses but now concentrate on training Chilean bred animals.

After a tour of the farm, we were given a demonstration of herding and horses literally dancing – a unique experience. There is a restaurant on the property where we had lunch and watched a singing and dance routine, with the horses actually being ridden inside the restaurant. Afterwards, three of the group went for a ride in the rain.The Casablanca valley is a vineyard area with about 20 vineyards, all with the latest varieties. Along the way back to our hotel, we saw quite a few Eucalyptus plantations, a sight which we were to see many more times on our trip as Eucy trees have become very popular in SA because of their hardiness and quality timber .That night we had dinner at the Giratorio restaurant , a revolving restaurant in Santiago which gave us some wonderful sights of the city lights.

ARGENTINAThursday 30 June 2011Today, we flew from Santiago to Buenos Aires (BA). There was a bit of drama at the airport where LAN Airways had overbooked the flight but we all managed to

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get on our scheduled plane. We had a magnificent flight over the snow capped Andes to BA where we met our new local guide, Jorge Cazenave. We then had a 3 hour bus trip to Melincue in the province of Santa Fe which is in the Pampas region of Argentina, to our hotel.

Friday 1 July 2011On our way to our first farm visit, our local guide, Jorge gave us a briefing on agriculture in Argentina, particularly referring to the Pampas region which we were travelling through. The main points were;1. The Pampas (the Inca word for flat land) is a major cropping area in Argentina.

The land is flat and fertile and the rainfall is around 1000mm/year, well spread out with the winter being drier than the summer. A “drought” in Argentina is 15 days without rain during the cropping season. One downside of this is that because the soils are so good and there is a lack of gravel and rocks in the region, dirt roads are a real problem in the wet, especially with all the heavy machinery and transport travelling up and down during the busy cropping periods.

2. The 4 principles of good farming (cropping) are; No till; Good soil; Lease land; and No equipment.

3. No Till is the normal practice in central Argentina and double cropping is practised everywhere in the region. In more southern areas south of BA, single cropping is the norm because of the different weather conditions.

4. Stubble is regarded as a soil fertiliser and conditioner. “We feed the soil” is their outlook.

5. Over 70% of grain produced in Argentina is grown on leased land. Almost all of it is sown with GM (Genetically Modified) seed

6. Argentina cropping farmers use their machines 3 times as much as their USA counterparts, so they tend to use contract machines or contractors as the machines are usually traded in every 4-5 years, which makes it unprofitable for the average farmer. As an example, the Company who Jorge, our guide works for, grow 80,000ha of crop per year but they don’t own any farm machinery – it is all contracted out.

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7. Argentina produces about 100 million metric tonnes per year. Of this 40-45% is stored in plastic bags or long plastic tubes because this is a much cheaper solution than silos. Birds are not a problem with these bags but farm animals and armidillos are

8. All exports from Argentina are taxed, with agricultural exports being one of the most taxed; eg. export soyabeans are taxed at 35%.

9. Land values in the cropping areas are US$15-18,000/ha whilst leased land costs US$4-600/ha/yr.

10.The main export outlets are; Soyabeans (Europe and China – there are some restrictions on GM grain being sold into Europe) Wheat (Brazil and some Arab countries) Sorghum (Japan).

11.Argentina is the world’s largest exporter of horse meat, mainly into France and Italy. One advantage of this trade is that there are very few regulations for this compared to exporting other meats such as beef, lamb etc. They even export hares (both alive and dead) to Germany.

12.Argentina’s economy has been slipping in the past 10 years. In 2000, the Argentinian peso was worth about US$1 but today, one US dollar is worth 4 pesos.

13.In South America, the El Nino and La Nina climate factors have the opposite effects to what we experience in Australia.

The first farm visit we did was to a big mixed farm, comprising 10,000ha in 9 different locations in the region. Of this, 3000ha was not suitable for cropping so they run 1000 beef cows on this area. During winter, the cattle are fed with maize silage made on the farm. This is fed to them by a self feeding system using the long tubes that silage (and grain) are stored in. The cropping paddocks are not grazed at all.The cropping program involves maize, wheat, barley, ryegrass, soyabeans and sorghum. Every paddock is double cropped each year, with soyabeans being preferred as they add nitrogen to the soil. Stubble burning, which is still quite common here in Australia, was phased out in the 1970’s, but No Till only became popular in the 1990’s when the majority of farmers upgraded their sowing equipment.

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We were taken out to some paddocks where we saw a modern sprayer in action, all GPS controlled. Nearby was another 270HP tractor, GPS controlled, sowing a barley crop with no fertiliser and seed treated with fungicide. This crop was for malting grade barley and they were expecting a yield of 5-7 t/ha.

The next farm we visited was La Contancia, owned by the Gallo family, where we had a BBQ lunch in their restaurant. The Italian based family moved there in the early 1900’s and the family home was built between 1910 and 1920. They farmed the property for many years but, due to the inheritance taxes, the property was split up, so the Gallos have had to diversify to maintain their income on their 200ha.They breed long woolled sheep (stud Hampshire Downs which are quite common in SA) and llamas, as well as farming Merino and Corriedales. They used to also have Lincoln sheep but these have gone out of favour, as have Border Leicesters, as the South Americans are not big eaters of lamb meat. They sell 40-50 stud rams per year, with prices being US$600-2000 per ram.They also grow some crops, mainly wheat and flax, but to maintain their income, in recent years, they have diversified into running farm excursions and a farm restaurant which have been very successful.

On the way back to our hotel in Melincue, we visited a Farm Machinery Engineering Plant, owned and run by a local manufacturer, Mr Victor Saluzzo. Years ago, when the first agricultural manufacturer started in the region, John Deere soon bought the licence (for a miserly US$100), but as the demand grew for bigger and better machines, a lot of other local manufacturers have set up businesses. The current trend of farms getting much bigger has led to a strong demand for this machinery, particularly 42 line seeders. Prices for this machinery in Argentina are currently much cheaper than anywhere else but these prices are rising rapidly. However, the local manufacturers are doing well because the local farmers prefer to stick with their local manufacturers.

Saturday 2 July 2011

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This morning we travelled to “Cabana El Desafio”, a mixed farm near the township of Pergamino (250 km N-E of Buenos Aires), owned and run by Alejandro Caledron and his daughter Macarina. The property is 280ha in size, on which they grow crops and have a registered Aberdeen Angus stud. They also lease another 1000ha which are used solely for cropping. He also has his own grain processing plant where grain is treated for export markets. As well, he has his own transport trucks to cart the grain to local buyers and to export terminals on the nearby Parana river. The average rainfall in the region is 1100mm per year with 40-50 frosts annually. They rotate the different crops with pastures. Generally pastures last 4-6 years followed by 6-8 years of cropping, sowing both winter (wheat, oats, green peas) and summer crops (Soyabeans, maize). They have tried speciality crops (eg with maize, you can produce crops for pop corn or hard red maize) but now they concentrate on the basic crops.When selling grain, the peas and wheat are sold to local markets, either on contract to local processors or sometimes through a local Co-operative. All export grain (soyabeans, maize) is sold through a trader. To trade with these exporters, the farm needs export registration and quality control procedures. About 90% of the soyabean varieties are genetically modified (GM) because they get a 5% premium for GM grain. With maize, about 70-80% of the maize produced in Argentina is GM.All crops are sown using the No Till system or conventional tillage, depending on soil conditions, and they use their own machinery. They also do a lot contract sowing and harvesting for other farmers, so their machinery is usually traded in after 7-8 years of use.With the cattle enterprise, the main aim is to breed stud stock for sale. They used to grow cattle for beef production but now concentrate on producing breeders from their 170 breeding cows. The cows used to be mainly Black Angus but they became too big and so Red Angus cattle were introduced and today, 80% of the stock are Red Angus. The aim is to produce animals of a moderate frame, high fattening rate and excellent quality meat.

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They sell 50-60 bulls per year, selling mainly through the auction system and the average price received is about US$3000/bull. They use a combination of natural mating and AI in the breeding program but they are just starting to introduce embryo transplants to speed up the breeding cycle. During the summer, the cattle are pasture fed, with electric fencing everywhere on the farm. During winter they are lot fed using silage (made from oats and vetch) grain (maize) and green peas (rejects from the processing plant)All cattle are vaccinated for Foot and Mouth Disease, as many countries won’t accept unvaccinated cattle into their countries. The vaccination is done by qualified people and over 90% of the cattle in Argentina are now vaccinated. This has led to a new industry for Argentina which is now a major source of vaccines for other countries.

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After leaving the farm, we visited his machinery shed in Permagino to see an impressive array of cropping machines.We then had lunch at the restaurant at the Royal Society Showgrounds in Permagino, where we each had a huge steak, before travelling back to Buenos Aires. That night we had dinner at the Tango Theatre/restaurant. Some of the group took part in a Tango lesson before we all went downstairs for dinner, followed by an excellent Tango Show.

Sunday 3 July 2011The morning was spent on a bus tour of B.A. which included a visit to the Old Cemetery where 64,000 people (including Eva Peron) are buried in 16,000 sites, the Plaza de Mayo where there are some historic buildings (plus a few protestors on that day) and the lovely Catholic Cathedral where mass was being celebrated. We also drove through some of the more interesting old parts of the city before having lunch at the Puerto Cristal restaurant overlooking the river. We then got dropped off at a local market from where we each made our own way back to the hotel.

Monday 4 July 2011We visited the biggest and most important saleyards in Argentina, situated in BA. It has a capacity for 30,000 cattle, making it the biggest market in the world (the USA used to have bigger markets but these no longer operate), although on most days (sales are held on 4 days every week) between 2-5000 head are auctioned. The yards have been operating for over 100 years and used to account for 30% of all cattle sold for slaughter in Argentina. This has now dropped to 10% and there is pressure to move the facility out of the city.Cattle come for sale from a 500kmm region with Tuesdays and Thursdays being the busiest days. Sales start at 8am and there are to 50 auctioneers operating simultaneously at 4-10 different spots within the yards.. This market sets the prices for the rest of Argentina, with all prices being posted on line.Cattle come into the yards the night before sale and ere weighed upon arrival. . They are re-weighed after sale and this weight is what the payment is based upon. All cattle are inspected for health by inspectors from the Ministry

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of Agriculture. Bidding is by kg liveweight and there are no reserve prices. Payments are generally made within 30 days. Commissions vary from 2-4% depending on how well you know the auctioneer plus there are market costs and a government levy which all total up to 10-12% of the price. The saleyards are government owned so the auctioneers pay a lease. All cattle are tagged but not necessarily electronically tagged. All the weighing is online so people can check at any time on particular animals. There are over 400 registered buyers in Argentina, with the vast majority of cattle being sold being sent to abattoirs for local markets. There are no abattoirs in BA city itself but there are hundreds within a 100km radius of BA. Of these, 30-40% are registered for export.

In the afternoon, we visited “Martin Garcia”, a farm near Belgrano on the Salado river. Salado means salty, although the river itself is not salty except near the mouth of the river where salt has been known to encroach up to 100km up river. The owner is Raul Turenzo who used to run the farm with his son Ferando but the son now works off farm so they have employed a manager. The home farm, owned since 1940, is 320ha and has very good soils so is used for cropping. The other 400ha block is mainly used for beef production.The cropping program is a 4 year rotation system, involving soyabeans, corn, soyabeans, wheat and soyabeans again. They also grow about 35 ha of sunflowers near the river which is prone to flooding. They also grow crops of sorghum and oats to feed the cattle which for much of the year, depend on natural pastures. All the cropping is done by contractors as the Turenzos only own one tractor and a grain auger.The beef enterprise is based on Black Angus cattle. They used to have Herefords but they had trouble with the disease, Pink Eye. Up until 2009, beef production in the area was not very popular due to low prices but since then , prices have risen and the industry is booming. The plans are to increase the current breeding herd from 300 to 600 breeders. All cattle are raised on pastures but those that are to be sold are finished off in lot feeds. With the steers, they have 2 options for selling, depending on prices at the time. They

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sometimes sell them at 270kg weight to other farmers to grow out and fatten or they grow them out themselves to about 400kg liveweight and sell them to processors.Land values in the region are quite expensive as they are only a couple of hours from BA, and city people are buying up land as weekenders. Current prices in the region are about US$8000/ha for good soils and US$3000/ha for poorer quality land. An interesting point was that in Argentina, banks don’t generally loan money for buying land or houses. Buyers may get finance through a machinery company of another private company but interest rates are very high – often as much as 20%.That evening we drove to Tandil where we stayed overnight.

Tuesday 5 July 2011This morning we visited a big dairy farm, “Estancia El Choique” which is owned by Clive Mulville, (a descendant of William Mulville, the New Zealander who built the Anzac Memorial at Gallipoli and came to Argentina to help build their railways and who bought the farm in 1933). The farm is 550ha in size with an annual rainfall of 1200mm. They run 600 milking cows, (with another 700 replacements and young steers) which are milked in 2 dairies, one with 18 bails and the other with 23 bails. The milkers are NZ bred Jerseys which are crossed with NZ Herefords, a strategy they have used for over 35 years. They mainly rely on paddock feed (there is some irrigated lucerne paddocks) with silage in the colder/drier times. They have 2 years of reserves of good quality silage plus maize, sorghum and baled hay. They are tending to grow more lucerne and more drought resistant grasses in response to climate change. The average milk production is about 5000lts/yr for which they receive 38 US cents/l. The average cost of production is about 28 US cents/l. They calve twice a year, using AI . We then had lunch at the farm before moving on to our next visit.

The afternoon was spent visiting “El Hervidero”, a 2,500ha farm, owned and run by Mr Subiare, which is a cropping and beef enterprise, plus breeds and

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trains polo horses. He also owns and runs a grain storage facility in conjunction with his brothers. The storage has a 13,000tonne capacity, plus some other smaller silos for seed storage. The big silos are temperature controlled to help the storage of grain, which mostly goes for exportHowever, it was obvious the big interest, and possibly income earner, was the polo horse enterprise. Polo is a very big professional sport in Argentina, especially in the Spring and Summer, whilst in the other seasons, it is big in the USA and Europe. There is a big demand for quality horses. El Hervidero has over 300 horses, of which 70% are mares which are used for breeding, using AI and embryo transplants. As well, about 100 outside mares come here for breeding every year. All the 7 stallions used are purebred and no AI is used. A Vet Is employed for 6-8 months/year, together with trainee Vets and breakers and trainers to rear and train the horses. The average price for a trained horse is about US$30,000. A lot of the professional players breed their own horses but there are 30-40 similar businesses to El Hervidero in Argentina.On the way back to Tandil, we got to see the silos and storage run by the business.Overnight was at Tandil.

Wednesday 6 July 2011In the morning, we set off to Mar del Plata. On the way we visited The National Institute of National Technology, Balcarce (INTA), which is a government body which was set up in 1956. Before that, it was an Experimental Station run by the Province of BA. It is now run by a Board of Management with the President and Vice President being nominated by the Government. Board members are reps from all the different agricultural industries plus farmer organisations. The Board decides on the policy for the whole organisation in Argentina which comprises 15 different regional institutions and 47 experimental stations.Also on the site is the College of Agriculture of the national University of Mar del Plata.Balcarce INTA is one of the biggest experimental stations in Argentina. It is 2,340ha in size, of which 2000ha is suitable for cropping. The focus is on cattle production and cropping, although in recent times, cattle are being pushed out

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of the better areas where cropping is becoming the major enterprise. The major crops are cereals, soyabeans and maize but it is also one of the biggest potato growing areas in the nation, with McCains being a huge processor who supply the McDonald chain all over the world. Other big industries include vegetables, fruit, dairy and bees.INTA has 320 employees, which includes 120 professional people. They do basic and applied research as well as extension programs, dealing directly with farmers. They also do contract research projects with private companies.The College of Agriculture is on the same site and work closely with INTA. It was established in 1962 and now has 190 lecturers, many of whom are from INTA. They provide Degrees in Agronomics, Plant Production, Animal Production and Food Science Technology. In the 50 years they have been working together they both see real benefits in the union. There are 800 students at the College, doing the 5 year courses. There is increasing interest in these Ag courses and other institutions are setting up similar integrated units. Many students are offered jobs before they finish their course. Like Australia, there are other educational institutions who also offer lower courses and short courses for farmers.We then had 2 presentations from INTA scientists focussing on the wheat and beef industries in the Pampas region.1. CROPPING Dr Pablo Abbate, Agronomist.

In Argentina, agricultural exports are the major income earners for the country. The biggest export earner is soyabean meal, followed by soyabean oil, car parts, cereals and then lubricants made from soyabeans. Wheat is not a very popular crop because of political based restrictions on prices received by farmers for the grain. In the Pampas region around Balcarce, the soils in the wheat growing areas generally have good organic matter but levels have dropped by 50% since cropping began. These soils generally have less water holding capacity than soils in the wheat belts of Australia, but generally they get more rain than Australian wheat areas.Wheat is sown in June – August and harvested from mid December to mid January. They usually treat crops with fungicide and herbicide, with P and N

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fertilisers being used at sowing. Trace element deficiencies are no real problem in the Pampas as potassium levels are quite high. Average wheat yields in Argentina are about 2.4t/ha but in the Pampas, the average is 3.6t/ha. Good farmers are getting 4.4t/ha but trials run by INTA have achieved yields up to 6t/ha. Scientists estimate that potential yields could soon be as high as 9t/ha. Farmers can get higher yields if they sow early and the plants flower earlier but there is increased risk of frost damage with this strategy.Prices for wheat depend on protein levels and weight – there is no classification of grain quality other than protein levels. Organic production of cereals in Argentina is a very small proportion of the total production.

2. BEEF Dr Enrique PavanBeef production was once the biggest agricultural industry in Argentina but since the early 1990’s, cropping has doubled in size and has pushed beef production into the less productive areas. Up till 2009, there were about 55-60 million beef cows in the country but this has now dropped to about 48 million because of drought and the increasing emphasis on cropping. However, scientist estimate that that they could increase the herd size from 48 million back to 55 million using the same area but by increasing production efficiency on farms. From 2007 to 2010, the steer/cow ratio has dropped from 69% to 47% in the Pampas region but in the N-E regions of Argentina, the ratio has increased from 39 to 45%. So the system in the Pampas region is changing from mainly fattening to breeding and fattening.The main areas of research are to improve forage quality and improve breed quality. In the northern areas, there is a lot of cross breeding with Brahmans, but in the south, farmers are sticking with the Hereford and Angus breeds and trying to improve the quality within these breeds.Export markets are demanding bigger animals but this market is decreasing whilst the local market wants smaller, better quality animals. Slaughter weights have actually increased, due to Government regulations that have forced up minimum slaughter weights.Production for 2010 was 2.6 million tonnes, of which 310,000t were exported. In 2016 it is estimated that production will rise to 3.8 million

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tonnes and exports will amount to 520,000t the average slaughter rate is now 340kg but they are hoping to raise this to 450kg/head which has the potential to increase exports to 1.4 million tonnes.South America is known for its grass fed beef. They want to build on this but they need to produce healthier meat all round and develop their own specialised market. Beef prices are currently high but this has led to increased production, and competition from other meats, so they need to develop more competitive export markets for beef to cater for the potential increased production.

Following our visit to INTA, we travelled to Mar del Plata for the night.

Thursday 7 July 2011O n our way to “San Eustaquio”, our farm visit for the day, we stopped off and visited the local school in the nearby town of Quequen. At the school, there were 73 children; 13 kindergarten kids, 30 primary and 30 secondary pupils. They put on a song and dance show for us.The farm is owned and run by Luly and Andy Pavlovsky. The family has owned the farm for 150 years. The farm is in 2 lots, totalling 1405ha, on which they breed horses and cattle and lease out quite a big area to neighbouring farmers for cropping. They have 700 Angus cows to breed steers for local and export beef production and 160 horses, of which there are 34 stallions.They breed a particular type of Arabian horse which is used in Shows and for long distance racing. The horses are sold all over the world, with Saudi Arabia being a major market.After lunch at the farm, we were scheduled to return to Mar del Plata and fly back to BA, then fly on to Iguazu, but the volcanic ash had disrupted all flights in the region, so we decided to embark on a 26 hour bus trip straight to Iguazu.

Friday 8 July 2011

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The whole day was spent travelling, finally getting to our hotel in Iguazu at 5pm. Along the way we saw all sorts of farming, with beef cows being the main enterprise. However, what did surprise us were the huge areas of plantations that we saw, mainly pine trees and eucalyptus trees. Eucy trees are quite common all over central South America, and all originated from Australia. The locals quickly discovered that eucys are very adaptable and are very good with dealing with droughts and prolonged dry periods. Also the quality of wood is very good and can be used for many things including building. We also saw numerous timber mills for processing the timber.

Saturday 9 July 2011The whole day was spent in and around the famous Iguazu waterfalls where , with normal flows, about 3 million gallons/second flow over the cliffs. We caught a train up to Devil’s Throat lookout which gave a great view of the falls. In the afternoon, we were taken on a boat trip underneath one of the falls, plus taken on a truck ride through the neighbouring forest to look at the local wildlife and vegetation.

BRAZILSunday 10 July 2011This morning we met up with Priscilla who was to be our guide in Brazil. She took us from our hotel in Argentina to the nearby Itaipu Dam, a huge hydro-electric dam which is shared between Brazil and Paraguay. We were given a special tour inside the dam to see the operations. Inside, there is a neutral zone, controlled by both countries. Brazil buys a lot of its power requirements from this facility. There are 3000 employees at Itaipu Binacional, the world’s largest hydro power plant, which is on the Parana River. There are 20 14,000MW generator plants producing enough power to supply a city of 2.5 million people.They have a Fish Migration Channel built into the wall to allow fish go upstream during the breeding season.

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After lunch, we headed off into the Brazilian countryside towards Cascavel. The two things that stood out were the big number of plantations and the very small number of farm houses. We learned later that in many parts of Brazil, farmers live in the nearby towns rather than on their farmsOur first farm visit was to Star Milk – at Fazenda, Iguazu, owned and operated by Mr Fayet, his son Trago and daughter who is training to be a Vet. This is a 570 cow dairy farm, one of the few dairies in the whole region. The farm is 1100ha big, with grain production being the main enterprise, employing 6 people.The cows are milked 3 times per day and the farm produces 16-17,000 litres per day, for which they get about 85cents/l. There are 28 employees doing the milking, working 8 hour shifts. The farm delivers its own milk to the factory. Cows are kept for 4-5 years and they are mainly US bred Holsteins, using AI. The major health problem are to do with sore feet and a lot of foot trimming needs to be carried out (they lose about 5 cows/month due to this problem). The total farm herd is about 950 head. All are electronically tagged. Male calves are given away as they are not worth anything.The cows are kept in pens designed so that manure cannot contaminate the fodder and there are automatic floor sweepers to remove all the dung from the pens. All the manure goes to the farm’s bio-diesel plant where it is used to make methane to power the generators that power a lot of the farm equipment. The solid residues are used for fertiliser. The farm could be self sufficient in its power needs but, because they depend on a power company to supply emergency power, the company insists on the farm using 20% of its power requirements from its supply. However, the farm can supply XS power from the bio-diesel plant back into the power grid for which they are compensated.We travelled on to Cascavel where we had dinner and then we had a presentation about Biodiesel fuel from representatives from FAG (which is the Bio-fuels Research Program of Gurgacz College), Mr Richard Bonorneto, an engineer and Pro. Cornelio Primieri.BIODIESEL FUEL

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Brazil is one of the world leaders in making and using biofuel. The world presently uses 14% of renewable energy and 86% of non-renewable energy. In contrast Brazil’s energy sources are 45% renewable and 55% non-renewable. It is the second largest biofuel producer in the world, (with Germany being the biggest) and is the only major country to expand its biofuel production because it has the capacity to greatly expand its cropping areas. Brazil’s fuel use is currently 5% 0f its fuel consumption but by 2012, it is estimated this will rise to 10%. Brazil is aiming to use 23% of biofuel by 2023.Brazil grows about 19 million hectares of crops per year. Biomass is used to make biofuel (there are 67 different plant species which can be used), as well as animal fats. Soyabeans are by far the biggest source, supplying 83% of the biomass products with the animal fats from cattle, pigs and poultry supplying another 12%. A tonne of soyabeans will produce 120-200kg of oil which can be converted into biofuel.The process of making biodiesel involves filtering the natural oil from the plant, mixing it with ethanol or methanol and, through a process called transesterification, eventually ends up as biodiesel. Renewable energy is creating more jobs and more income for the country. The Carbon emissions from biofuel are 98% less than ordinary diesel. However, the price of biodiesel is expected to get more expensive than ordinary diesel because of the competition for oilseed crops to be used for human consumption. Also, taxes on Biofuel are basically the same as for ordinary fuel.

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Researchers are trying to find alternative sources of plant oil that are not used for human consumption (and hence be cheaper to produce biofuel) One possibility is Crambe which is quick growing, does not need any special machinery to grow and harvest ,and has a relatively low cost of production.

Monday 11 July 2011Today, we visited COODETEC (CDC), the Central Cooperative of Agricultural Research, which was established in 1974. It is owned by 34 Brazilian Co-ops. and its main objectives are to develop, breed and sell new crop varieties, develop regional varieties and specific products for members, develop new markets, improve technology of growing crops and to work in partnership with new and independent groups such as universities, government Departments and private companies. The Co-operative system is important in southern Brazil, although it is not as common in the northern parts of the country. As an example, 60% of farmers in CDC’s region of the Purana are members of a Co-op. CDC has 185,000 farmers associated with it through the 34 member Co-ops.

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CDC is run by a Council with members elected by the farmers. There are two divisions – one is the Research division and the other looks after the commercial aspects. The Co-op’s headquarters are at Cascavel and it has4 other research stations plus 10 trial sites. They employ 13 research officers plus another 450 employees. It is self sufficient in funding and so the 34 Co-ops don’t have to fund the organisation. They also employ agronomists in each of the Co-ops 8 regions to help farmer members.We then were taken on a tour of the Research centre. 1.Research Labs. This is where they are developing new technologies to modify DNA analysis genes to improve crops.2.Plastic Houses. Researchers can vary the climate conditions to suit the region they are experimenting for.. It usually takes 5-10 years to fully develop a new cultivar.3. Glass houses. For growing plants that are used for crossbreeding.4. Soyabean Lab. (also separate ones for wheat and maize) For growing samples to be used in field trials.5. Quality Control Labs. To test all seeds for quality. Seeds are germinated, tested and if OK, kept for sowing in the next season.6. Pathology labs. To produce various diseases and use them to test new cultivars for resistance, susceptibility etc.

We then travelled to Toledo where we had a buffet lunch. Interestingly, at the restaurant, they weighed your meal after you had served yourself and you paid according to the weight.

After lunch we headed off to Londrina. On the way we visited a pig farm, owned and managed by Mr Granja Stuani and his brother. The business started in 1977 with 30 sows. Today, they have 850 sows on the 15ha property. Besides the pigs, they grow corn, soyabeans, sugar cane (used for making rum) and grapes (for winemaking).The basic business is breeding pigs. Once the piglets are weaned at 28 days, they are sent to one of 2 other farms for growing out and then all are sent to a third farm for fattening. This is now a common system. Fifteen years

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ago, pig farmers did the lot but now they specialise. They sell by contract and get US$40-45/piglet.They don’t castrate the male piglets but use a sterilant which was developed in Australia 10-12 years ago. This steriliser has only been available in Brazil for 2 years. The reproduction rate is 25 piglets/sow/year and the breed of sows is a Large White/Landrace cross. Each sow has a box to keep the piglets warm. They are fed corn plus a 4% nutrient additive with an antibacterial supplement. The feeding system is automatic. Boars are used to detect sows that are on heat.A large Australian pig farmer on the tour remarked that he had travelled a lot throughout Europe, America etc but he had never seen a cleaner piggery than this, and he was very impressed at the piglets/sow produced.

After the visit, we had a 6.5hr bus trip to Londrina where we arrived at 8.30pm to spend the night.

Tuesday 12 July 2011

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The first visit this morning was to the New Agro farm machinery dealership in Londrina. Established in Londrina in 1999, New Agro has built up a very reputable dealership across Brazil, renowned for its sales of New Holland machines throughout the country. There was quite a big range of machines and prices were generally much cheaper than in Australia.

We then headed out to Santa Helena, a huge cropping farm of 4000ha (valued at US$20,000/ha) which is all continuously cropped. The summer crop is soyabeans whilst in the winter, there are soya and corn crops. The corn is sown with pasture, so after harvesting the corn, the pasture is mulched and returned to the soil. The soya crops also leave plenty of mulch after harvesting and this is all returned to the soil. With the 2 crops per year, the farm actually produces the equivalent of about 6000ha of crops per year, which amounts to US$8-9 million annually.

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Production of soya crops is 3-4t/ha and with the corn, the yields are about 6t/ha. The fertilisers used are lime and potassium.There are 32 employees on the farm who work 8 hour shifts, with 2 shifts per day during the sowing and harvesting periods. These employees each earn US$1000/month plus they usually get a bonus at the end of the year.There are no silos on the farm as all grain is delivered directly to central grain storage depots in the region. The farm is owned by Mr Jose Ludwig and his son who is completing an Agronomy course and will eventually take over the management of the farm.They use only New Holland equipment, which includes 7 huge harvesters, 8 trucks, 8 planters and 12 tractors which don’t have cabins yet (cabin roofs were only fitted 5 years ago).After lunch, we were taken to IAPAR (the Agronomic Institute of Parana) which is a state owned research station for crops, soil conservation etc. It is 220ha in size and has about 500 employees plus another 200 students/trainees. They are funded by the government of Parana, one of Brazil’s States , but they also get additional funding from other research bodies in Brazil and other countries plus private companies. They also have a seed production unit to sell new crop varieties and hybrids developed at the Station. They also have an Advisory Branch to work closely with farmers. They work with soyabeans, cotton, apples (initially apples would not grow in this climate but they have now developed a cultivar which is growing quite well), beans (they are trying to increase the iron content of bean crops), medicinal plants and a new venture with Neem trees which have a natural insecticide in the oil of the leaves and this oil can be mixed with water to produce a natural insecticide spray.After a tour of the station, we were addressed by Herbert Bartz, a Brazilian pioneer and world expert on zero-till planting.Brazil has extremes in weather in their cropping regions and the soils quickly dry out without protection. Also bare soils are prone to erosion. US farmers started no-till in the 1960’s so in 1971, they tried the first experiment in Brazil on a 35ha wheat paddock. In 1972, Herbert used the first no-till planter in Brazil. Initially, no-till was only designed to stop erosion but since then other benefits of the new method have become obvious. They had to develop new

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ploughs and in 1973, they developed a low volume spraying technique whish was used when there was still dew on the groundIn 1976, the first commercial crop was sown in Brazil, using the no-till method.. In 1979, Herbert was involved in the formation of the “Earthworm Club” which later became the “Soil Friends Club” to promote the no-till technique. All the information was made available to anyone at no cost.Since 1972, the crop productivity/ha in Brazil has almost tripled because of no-till. Recent studies have shown that in summer soil temperatures can reach 74 degreesC in bare soil but in covered soils, the temps are only 39C.Of course this is nothing new. The Babylonians knew 2,500 years ago that to get good crops, they aimed for minimum soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and rotate crops. They used water buffalo to develop their systems.

Wednesday 13 July 2011After an early 7.30am start, we headed for a sugar cane plant at Taruma. On the way we were given some background information on aspects of Brazil’s economy. Brazil is now the fourth or fifth largest economy in the world. Incomes in the 1970’s averaged about US$1000/person but today it is about US$10,000/person. The country had huge inflation rates in the late 80’s and early 90’s but this has settled down.Brazil has similar inheritance taxes to other SA countries. If you pass on your assets to your children before you die, you pay 10-12% tax. If you leave it until after your death, the tax rate jumps to 20%. The third option, which a lot of wealthy people do, is to form a company and put all your assets in the Co. and thus you can keep it in the family without having to pay taxes on your demise.

The sugarcane plant is run by the Raizen organisation which is owned by Shell and another huge company, Cosan. Using sugarcane produced by farmers in the region, they 24 different factories across Brazil, producing more than 2.2 billion litres of ethanol per year for the national and international markets, 4 million tons of sugar plus 900MW of electrical energy. The Company has over 4,500 service stations for retail fuel distribution in Brazil, over 500 convenience

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stores, 53 fuel distribution depots and an aviation fuel business in 54 airports in Brazil.The sugarcane is processed and made into ethanol and sugar (both white and brown). Ethanol is only made during the sugarcane season but sugar for eating is made all the year round. The waste/residues from the ethanol production line are used for fertiliser, stock feed and producing power to run the generators.Trucks bring in 50t loads to the factories where they are weighed and sampled (farmers get paid according to the weight and the quality). The plant works 24 hours per day except when they shut down from mid Dec. to April. There are 750 employees at the plant who each work 8 hour shifts. After lunch, we set off for Palmital township where we visited the Halotek Fadel Industry factory, a family business which grows and processes cassava. Antonio and Victorio Fadel, 2 grandsons of the man who established the business, manage the farm and factory.Cassava (which comes from the root of the plant) is an interesting species, originally being used by the early Indian inhabitants of the region as their staple diet, together with fish. Today, cassava has many uses (about 80 different ones) such as human consumption (it can’t be eaten raw) and making paper, glue, starch, perfumes, cosmetics , rum etc. The composition of cassava is 40% starch, 10% fibre and 50% water.The crop is sown in neutral soils (often lime needs to be added to the soil to neutralise it) by cutting 10cm stems or sticks from mature trees and sowing horizontally in the ground (in Thailand, another big cassava producer, they sow the sticks vertically in mounds because of the much wetter conditions there). Sowing time is March to October and it can be harvested from 1-3 years old depending on the variety. Yields range from 20t/ha in the first year to 40t/ha after 2 years growth. Contract growers who supply 80% of the Factory’s requirement, always plant several varieties.The Fadel brothers grow their own crops and use the cassava in the off season when the contractor supplies dry up. Overall, they harvest and process about 3000ha of cassava annually. The two main competing countries are China and Thailand. The industry in SA is stable but not growing.

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After the visit, we had a 1.5 hour trip to Presidente Prudente, where we stayed the night.

Thursday 14 July The morning was spent travelling towards Campo Grande. On the way we crossed the Parana river, a huge waterway with a 2.5km bridge over it. At the end of it, police were weighing trucks and buses and apparently our bus was overweight and the driver was fined. After lunch, we visited “Bela Vista’, a cattle farm owned and run by the Coelho family. It was first developed by the family in 1892 when it was a 1 million ha farm. The current house was built in 1938 and the present property is 9000ha in size, of which 2,500ha are used for growing soyabeans and corn (which are used to make feed and silage for the lot fed cattle), 4,000ha as pasture and the remaining 2,500ha is forest (contained a lot of Eucalyptus trees which supply wood to power the grain mill). They have their own mill to make the feed for the cattle. They have about 8000 animals in the feedlot plus they also produce and sell about 600 pure bred bulls annually. The animals enter the feedlot when they are about 300kg in weight and are sold at 500-550kg weight 3 months later. The males are not castrated because this is what their markets demand. About 90% of the animals on the farm are bought in. The heifers are kept on the grass paddocks whilst the breeding cows are run on another farm. The cattle in the feed lot are fed 4 times a day, They are vaccinate for Foot and Mouth disease but the only real health problem they encounter is acidosis which is fixed by feeding them a carbonate mixture.The lot fed cattle go straight to an abattoirs from where most of the meat is sold overseas, mainly to Japan and Russia.With the breeding enterprise, the farm initiated the breeding of the “Patanal” breed (Bos Taurus) and later the Zebu (Bos indicus), but now they are concentrating on breeding and selling the Nelore breed. These were brought in from India in the 1960’s. Twice a year, they auction the bulls in Campo Grande and prices range from about US$3,500 to $8,000 per head.The breeding program on the farm is one developed by Embrapa Beef Cattle Station, which is part of a large research institute (see notes for Friday 15 July).

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The program, called Agroplus Geneplus, was set up in 2000 and it is a computerised system which allows animal breeders to evaluate genetic trends in their breeding herds, select the best progeny, rank cows and bulls and develop breeding plans for each herd. It can check individual animals on a whole range of traits and mix and match different bulls with different cows. Farmers can also see the genetic improvements in their herds and compare these with the average.After this visit, we travelled to Campo Grande for the evening.

Friday 15 July 2011This morning we visited the JBS Abattoirs located near Campo Grande. These were built in 2006-2008 and now employ 1200 people, including 6 veterinarians plus Inspection officers. They showed us all over the complex from the slaughter pens to the packaging areas and the new hamburger processing facility being installed.The facility can slaughter up to 3,000 animals per day (810tonsof meat) but the average is about 900 animals daily. The average speed of the deboning chains is 600t/day. There are 18 cooling chambers which can hold about 2000 carcases and they have Cryovac packaging facilities.The meat and offal are sold all over the world to Europe, Asia, Africa, USA, Canada and, of course, South America. They do not export to Australia because we are one of a few countries that don’t allow imports from countries with F&M disease.We then went on to Embrapa where we had lunch.Embrapa is the Brazilian Research Service,which was established in 1973 to develop new technologies for Brazilian agriculture and pass this knowledge on to farmers etc. There are now 46 separate research centres, including 7 Ecoregional Institutes, employing 9342 people, which includes 2,282 research officers, 71% of whom have a PhD qualification. By 2010, Embrapa had developed 110 new technologies and 140 improved varieties for commercial crops. For every US% dollar invested in Embrapa, the return to the country’s economy has been US$9.35, with 93,442 new jobs having been created.

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The overall aim is to make the Brazilian agribusiness economy more competitive and they deliberately work with other countries (56 of them – Australia is not one of these) and other institutions (89 different ones). The 3 main areas of research are animals, plants and integrated systems of farming.BEEF CATTLE and ANIMAL BREEDINGDr Luis Otavio, a beef specialist gave us a summary of the animal breeding programs at the Institute. In Brazil, up to the 1950’s, productivity of the beef industry was very low. In the Patanal region, which had 90% of the beef cattle, the average stocking rate was about 1 animal/3-4ha whilst in the northern regions, it was only 1 animal/15ha, all run on native grasses. Today, the average stocking rate in the Patanal is about 1.6 animals/ha. In that period, weaning %s have increased from 45% to 75%. Mortality rates have dropped from 30% to 6% and the average age of slaughter has dropped from 58 months to 30 months. Beef production accounts for &.3% of Brazil’s national product, employing about 7.5 million people. There are currently 193 million beef animals of which 85 million are breeding cows. About 87% of cows are pasture fed, 7% are in feedlots and the remaining 6% live on pastures and supplementary feed. Up until the 1980’s, the major goal was to increase the size of animals and increase the milk production of cows but research showed that these 2 objectives were less profitable than smaller cows and more efficient growing systems.This led the Animal Breeding program to focus on selection systems to select the desired qualities in breeding stock and to encourage crossbreeding. In the early 1980’s when the genetic evaluation programs were first set up by Embrapa, there were only 300-400 bulls in the scheme in 1984. This year there are 54,199 bulls, of which 40,000 are the Nelore breed. The Nelore breed has been popular for many years, but recent research has shown that crossing Nelore with breeds such as Simmental, Charolais or Chianina, increases the returns to farmers by 10-15% when compared with the straight Nelore or Brangus cattle.PASTURES and VEGETATION RESEARCH

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Dr Arnildo Pott then gave us an overview of this program in Brazil. Much of the program is focussed on breeding native plant species for use as commercial crops. Brazil has an amazing number and variety of wild species of crops that are commercialised in many other countries. For example, with peanuts, there are 80 different species known in the world – 50 of these grow in Brazil. Other native species include wild rice, wild passionfruit, and some wild varieties of paspalum and lemon grasses. Native fruits include wild cashews, custard apples, small guava, cumbaru nuts, marmalade box (related to coffee) and Buriti palms which Macaw birds depend on to live. There is also a whole range of native medicinal plants which tend to grow in the poorer country, very similar to many Australian regions.When it comes to retaining native vegetation and wildlife, there are laws in place but there is a big variation across Brazil. There are restrictions about clearing native forests but these vary. Atlantic forests on the east coast of Brazil are protected, but generally, farmers can clear up to 80% of their farms if they want to. The authorities are just starting to encourage wildlife corridors and Off-set planting schemes. In the east of the Patanal region, pine trees are starting to encroach into native bushlands and this is a real concern for authorities. In some areas, there are numerous water buffaloes but these are harming the native plant species. When buffaloes were removed from one large wetland area, 25 aquatic plant species reappeared soon after.After the lectures, we set off for Bonito where we spent the night.

Saturday 16 July 2011Today was a day for sightseeing. In the morning, we had a look around Bonito, visiting an aquarium and a Farmers Market. In the afternoon, we visited the Macaw Hole, a huge natural hole, 100metres deep and 500 metres in circumference, where we saw plenty of native birds such as the macaws, tucans etc. and wildlife such as alligators, armidillos, deer, anteaters etc. The farm on which the Hole is situated has changed from normal farming practices to promoting and running an eco-tourism business, running excursions and providing accommodation for tourists.After a tour of the property, we returned to our hotel in Bonito.

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Sunday 16 July 2011 This morning, we left for a 3 hour drive through the Patanal region to San Francisco Farm, a huge multi enterprise farm on the Miranda River, owned by the Coelho family. The farm was originally 15,000ha in size but was split up when the father died recently. The farm is a major eco-tourism site plus they run cattle, sheep and grow 4000ha of rice. Roberto Coelho, with his daughter Carol, owns and operates 4,500 ha, most of which contains the swamplands and lagoons which are the basis of the Eco-tourism business. There are 26kms of waterways in the area, 19 of which are on Roberto’s farm. We were taken for a boat ride along some of the waterways, seeing a big range of native birds plus caymans (alligators), anteaters, the biggest rodents in the world, etc. We stopped and did some fishing, with some of us catching a pirana or two. We stopped at one place to see the Century Tree, an old historic tree that is over 100 years old where we fed caymans in the river. These nearly became extinct in the 1980’s because of over killing for their hides, but now the wild ones are protected and numbers are increasing. In fact some people are farming them for their hides, such is the demand for this product. Most of the farm is subject to flooding so they have had to build a big ditch around the edge to keep the flood waters out. The sheep enterprise is small, as they need 24 hour protection from Jaguars as do the cattle at calving time (they lose 10-12 calves per year to jaguars).The cattle enterprise is based on breeding Senepols, a Braham-Red Poll cross which has good growth rates, very tender meat and can tolerate the hot weather conditions. They use the Geneplus breeding program to continually improve their herd. They are trying to breed the whole year round, with the steers and some of the females being finished off in feedlots. All the meat used in the restaurant at the Eco centre comes from the farm. They used to grow Montana cattle, which are a Neloro x Simmental cross, but they produce multi- coloured calves and the quality is not as good, hence the shift to Senepols.They have 600ha of rice, with another 3,400ha being grown on other parts of the family farm. The rice is irrigated using 100kms of canals supplying water

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from the nearby Miranda river. Current yields of rice are about 6t/ha but with new varieties coming soon, they are hoping to increase this to 8t/ha. At the moment, prices for rice are very low, so they are looking at other alternatives for their irrigated paddocks such as soybeans.They also grow a lot of Eucalyptus trees along the banks of the canals and lagoons and use the wood for drying the rice after harvesting.After the extensive farm visit, we set off for Campo Grande where we arrived at our hotel at 10.30pm after a 4 hour drive.

Monday 18 July 2011The whole day was spent travelling from Campo Grande to Rio de Janeiro via Brasilia.

Tuesday 19 July 2011The day began badly when some of our group were attacked whilst going for an early morning walk along the beach. Fortunately, they escaped unscathed. The day was spent sightseeing which included a train trip up to see the statue of Christ the Redeemer (which was largely covered in fog) and a cable car ride up to Sugar Loaf mountain which has some wonderful views, although also foggy.That night, we had a Samba Show at dinnertime which was excellent, with some very athletic dancers. Also, the dances demonstrated the development of the Brazilian culture, starting from the ancient Indian culture through to the Portugese culture.

Wednesday 20 July 2011The whole day was spent travelling by bus from Rio to San Paulo, then catching a flight to Lima in Peru, arriving after 11.00pm. On the road to San Paulo, we stopped to see the Aparecida Catholic Cathedral, the third largest in the world, which was built in 1954 and can seat 150,000 in the main building.

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When all the outlying chapels are used, the complex can accommodate 300,000 people.On the way to Guarulhos airport, our bus was weighed and we were once again over the limit and the driver had to pay a fine before we were allowed to proceed.Overnight in Lima.

PERUThursday 21 July 2011Lima has a population of about 9 million. Temperatures range from 12C to 30c but the annual rainfall is only 75mm which is extremely low but they are on the west side of the Andes where most of the rain falls. Peru gained its independence from Spain initially in 1821 but consolidated it in 1824. In the early 1900’s, there was a great influx of immigrants. Over 10% of the current population has a Chinese background with Japanese and Italians also being prominent. Over 65% of Peru’s exports are minerals, including silver, copper, zinc, lead and gold. It also exports oil. Tourism is another big income earner for the country. The day was spent visiting the many historical sites and buildings in Lima.

Friday 22 July 2011Today was spent flying from Lima to Juliaca, via Cusco. Juliaca (altitude of 3,800m) has a population of 300,000 and is the commercial centre of the province (Puno is the capital). Juliaca is close to the Bolivian border so many of the local businesses are illegal. The annual rainfall is 600-700mmwith the main crops in the area being potatoes, quinoa and other tuber crops, barley, oats and beans. Sheep are the next biggest industry followed by cattle then camels. Milk production is increasing in recent times in the area as other more arable country in Peru is changing to cropping.On the way we saw a lot of raised bed cropping which originated way back in 5000BC when the first inhabitants from the jungles came out into the flat plain lands and started growing crops. We also saw a lot of llamas and alpacas which are very popular in Peru. Another feature of the farm houses were small clay

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bull heads on top of the roofs. This is an old tradition of scaring evil spirits away.We then set off to drive to Puno, visiting the Sillustani graves on the way. This is an ancient burial ground of the pre-Inca people who inhabited the region over 2000 years ago. We arrived at Puno where we were advised to get a good night’s sleep to acclimatise to the high altitude.

Saturday 23 July 2011An early start again, commencing with a 3 hour boat trip on Lake Titicaca (the “Grey Puma”), firstly to the floating islands of Uros and then to the island of Taquile. The floating islands were amazing in that they were literally formed from reeds growing in the lake. Titicaca is a huge lake, 8,600 sq. kms in size, all of which is fresh water. Reeds cover about 25,000ha of the lake, and over the centuries, people learnt how to make floating islands from these reeds and there are now about 60 floating islands on which about 2,500 people live, making their living from fishing, tourism and working on the mainland. There are 3 schools on these islands and a hospital with a doctor and nurse. The reeds are also used for eating and making their houses and boats.Afterwards, we had a 2 hour boat trip to the island of Taquile where we were supposed to climb 600 steps to the pinnacle, but, because some people were still struggling with altitude sickness, we look a longer but gentler climb to the top. This island has about 5000 inhabitants who make their living via fishing, farming and catering for tourists. All the families work co-operatively and take it in turns to run the island’s shops and businesses. There has been a community decision not to allow horses or donkeys on to the island.Another interesting fact about the people here was that they dress according to their marital status, to distinguish between who is available for marriage and who is already taken. We then had a lovely 2 hour boat trip back to our hotel in Puno.

Sunday 24 July 2011Today was spent travelling from Puno to Cusco (formerly known as Qosquo which means the Middle of the Earth). Cusco is the 6th largest city in Peru with

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a population of 450,000 – Peru’s population is 30 million. On the way we visited a couple of ancient temples.We also saw numerous alpacas and llamas which are farmed extensively in Peru. There are 2 types of llamas, one with a lot of wool and this is used for making clothes etc whilst the other sort were used as carriers by the Incas. They were also used for meat, with the hides used to make ropes to pull the huge heavy stones up the mountain sides to build the famous Inca towns and fortresses. There are also 2 types of alpacas, one with a lot of wool, once again used for clothes and the other used as a source of meat which is very tasty and has no cholesterol.We also passed many plantations of Eucalyptus trees. The wood is used to make houses (although most houses are made with mud bricks) and for firewood and the leaves are used for medicines.Peru has 3 basic regions – the Coast, the Andes and the jungle of the lower Amazon region. There are only 2 Universities in Peru, one public and the other private, plus there are Technical Colleges. Education in Peru is compulsory from 5-16 years old. Health care is free but only for Government employees. Peru’s power comes from 95% hydro-electric and 5% from natural gas.We spent the night at Cusco.

Monday 25 July 2011Today, we travelled west from Cusco to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred valley of the Incas, which was a major Inca military, religious and agricultural centre. On the way, we saw Cachimayo, a big fertiliser plant that was built in 1930’s. It operated 24 hours per day, supplying fertiliser to farmers all over the country but in the 1990’s, the government started importing fertiliser from overseas and this severely affected this business, which now only operates part-time in the busy season.The town of Ollantaytambo was built as a fortress, high in the mountains to protect the people from invaders. This was successful up until 1537 when the then native leader, Manco Inca, decided that his situation was untenable so he withdrew from the site back to the heavily forested site of Vilcabamba. The site was then assigned to a Spanish nobleman, Hernando Pizzaro.

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Some very interesting buildings, situated high above the town on steep mountain slopes, are grain storage houses where the locals stored their grain. The reason for building them high above the valley floor was because the lower temperatures and more wind helped to stop the grain decaying. The grain was poured in through the windows on the uphill side of each building, then emptied out through the downhill side windows.During our trip there and back to Cusco, we saw a lot of cropping farms. The main crop in the area is potatoes, which are sown when the first rains come in October. There are about 150 different varieties of spuds, depending on the rainfall and the altitude. In Lima there is a Potato research Centre which is breeding new, better varieties. They also keep all the old varieties going which now number about 3000, some of which are known to be 5-6000 years old.The main potato area in Peru is based around Chinchero, a town of 10,000 people. Most potato farmers today still use oxen, old ploughs and harvest by hand. Only the rich farmers have tractors. In recent times, Co-ops have become popular as members buy machinery between them and share it during the sowing and harvesting seasons. Other crops grown in the region are oca (the root has natural sugars which are good for diabetics, but too much of it lowers testosterone levels so men affected eat another crop product called maca which is like a natural Viagra. This maca is also good for mothers with young children). Quinoa is another crop, being good for treating memory loss due to its high amino acid content.Corn can be grown from 500m to 3,600m altitude and there are about 40 different varieties. One interesting use of corn is to make a Liquor drink (3% alcohol) which is very popular and we saw quite a number of Corn Liquor Bars in towns.Timber plantations of Eucalypts were also very common and can be grown up to altitudes of about 4.400 metres. The Eucy timber was initially used for railway sleepers but today is used for building houses and heating places.We then returned to Cusco for the night.

Tuesday 26 July 2011

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Today was entirely devoted to visiting the famous Machu Pichu site. We travelled by bus to Ollantaytambo where we caught the train to Machu Pichu. Once there, we were taken by bus up to the historic site which is 2.430m above sea level.In spite of seeing many photos of the ruins beforehand, to actually see the site was awesome. To hear about the history left us wondering how the Incas ever achieved what they did. For example, the entire complex was built from granite stones, many of them weighing over 10 tonnes. All these stones came from a mountain 8km away. They were cut out of the mountain and taken down to the nearby valley floor where each one was precisely shaped according to plans and models developed beforehand. They were then transported (using animals, ropes, people and timber rollers) to pull each stone up the mountain to the Machu Pichu site where they were used to construct the various buildings, temples, forts etc. in designs that not only achieved the religious and cultural objectives, but as well to successfully survive the common earthquake tremors that hit the are. It took an average of 1 whole year from the time a rock was cut from the first mountain until it was put in place at the city site. When you see how many thousands (millions?) of stones were needed, it is beyond our comprehension but it was carried out and it served the Incas well. We returned to Cusco on the train which was a wonderful trip with all the various sites of mountains, rivers, farmland etc. Also, whilst on the train, the staff entertained us with a comedy show and an alpaca fashion parade.

Wednesday 27 July 2011This morning, we had a tour of the city centre of Cusco, where we visited the Temple of the Sun, which demonstrated the incredible masonry of the Incas. Huge stones were placed together, all to build the Temple and no mortar was used, thanks to the perfect fitting together of every stone. We then visited the Spanish built cathedral which was over–the-top ornate furnishings of gold plated picture frames, candelabras, carved woodwork, altars and paintings. The cathedral was deliberately built on the site of a former Inca temple, using stones taken from the famous Saqsayhuamann site, just outside Cusco , which

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was the original city of the Incas in the area. The stones were also used for government buildings and homes for the wealthy Spaniards.Whilst we were in the city, we were fortunate to see a huge demonstration in the city centre, celebrating Peru’s Independence Day which is officially on July 28. There was a great display of military personnel, bands, government officials and thousands of people. The ceremony also celebrated the commencement of the newly elected Peruvian President’s 5 year term.We then went out to Tambomachay (known as the Baths of the Incas) which, besides all the ruins of buildings, consists of aqueducts, canals and waterfalls running through the terraced rocks. We also visited the underground cave and temple of Kenko which was an important worship centre for the Incas for ceremonies dedicated to Mother Earth.That night we enjoyed dinner in Cusco.

Thursday 28 July 2011

The day was spent travelling from Cusco to Lima where we spent the night,

after enjoying our farewell Dinner.

Friday 29 July – Sunday 31 July

We departed from our hotel at 10.00pm and went to the airport where we caught a plane to Santiago. We then flew back to Australia, via Auckland NZ, arriving early on Sunday morning.