Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world 2025 at 10:54 AM ESTBookmarkSaveA fire at a major grains rail terminal in Brazil has been brought under control after firefighters battled the blaze for several hours Brazil – October 2024 - The Salesian community at Rondonópolis (MT) which belongs to the Salesian Province of Campo Grande (BCG) organised the 3rd edition of Bosco Fest on Sunday 27 October The event brought together about 300 young people from different parishes in the city Councillor for the America South Cone Region who is making the Extraordinary Visitation to the BCG Province During the celebrations Fr Gabriel Romero expressed his joy at having shared this special moment highlighting the importance of the Extraordinary Visitation to Rondonópolis: "It is a joy for me to share this moment with you," he said The diocesan bishop of Rondonópolis attended the event underlining the commitment of young people “The last Sunday in October is National Youth Day so that this blessing touches the hearts of all and inspires you with big dreams The parish priest of the São João Batista Parish and rector of the Salesian community in Rondonópolis said that "Young people from different parishes of the diocese are with us from Montanópolis Gratinga and other places where the charism of Don Bosco has arrived in their hearts" ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007 This site also uses third-party cookies to improve user experience and for statistical purposes By scrolling through this page or by clicking on any of its elements This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page The challenges to developing waterways have focused investor’s attention on railroads the Amazon Hub of the IIRSA portfolio included eight rail projects under construction (1) or on the drawing boards (5) The estimated total budget ranges between $US 20 and $US 30 billion but even the larger number is an underestimate because it excludes several of Brazil’s most ambitious initiatives The Brazilian railroad sector is an unusual mixture of private and public corporations and a concessionaire system where public assets are leased to private companies that commit to large capital investments the federal government launched an initiative to expand the rail network particularly new lines that would penetrate the agricultural landscapes of the Southern Amazon and the Amazon-adjacent landscapes of Northeast Brazil which are collectively referred to as MATOPIBA Following is a description of the major rail investments underway in the Brazilian Amazon This is probably the most lucrative railroad in Brazil it has dramatically lowered the cost of commodity transport from the farms of central and southern Mato Grosso to the port of Santos (São Pualo) Operated by Brazil’s largest private railroad company (Rumo Logístico) the line currently reaches Terminal Ferroviário de Rondonópolis a massive logistical facility with the capacity to transship 12 million tonnes per year The ninety-year concession for EF-340 stipulates the rail line will be extended to Cuiabá and Rumo plans to extend Ferrovía Norte to the town of Lucas do Rio Verde (Mato Grosso) where it will intersect with an East – West railroad under development This is a new initiative that was not included in the strategic transportation plans formulated in 2011 nor is it included within the IIRSA portfolio It is a direct response to farmers’ demands for an economically attractive export option from central Mato Grosso The Ferrogrão will run parallel to BR-163 for 935 kilometres between Sinop (Mato Grosso) and Miritituba (Pará) Its projected capacity of sixty million tonnes per year approximates the combined soy and maize produced in Mato Grosso in 2019 The $US 1.5 billion investment is being coordinated by a Brazilian engineering firm Estação da Luz Participações (EDLP) with support from the ABCD commodity traders The federal government is seeking to fast-track its construction by supporting the environmental review process via the Programa de Parcerias de Investimentos (PPI) which is managed from the President’s office to facilitate private sector investment in public infrastructure assets A formal tender process for building and operating a 65-year concession is expected to be convened in 2021 The proposal is unusual in that it would award a monopoly to the concessionaire to operate trains over the railroad a privilege that would be revoked if the rail line were ever linked to the national rail network the construction of the Ferrogrão is opposed by environmental advocates and indigenous groups who maintain that the railroad will promote settlement on the narrow corridor along BR-163 (HML # 17) The region suffers from an epidemic of illegal activities particularly land grabbing and unregulated deforestation phenomena they contend would be supercharged by the influx of thousands of migrant workers for the railroad’s construction Critics also contend that a reduction in transport costs will increase deforestation across the farm landscapes of northern Mato Grosso which among other impacts would degrade the water resources of the indigenous territories along the Xingu River The most conflictive zone is a 75-kilometer stretch through the heart of Parque Nacional Jamanxim where the BR-163 right-of-way has a width of only 200 meters Congress approved a measure that would widen the right-of-way of BR-163 through Jamanxim National Park a precondition for obtaining an environmental license from IBAMA Construction is planned to start in 2021 and be completed by 2025 but like most infrastructure projects in Brazil it is not proceeding according to the projected timeline this rail line will span the country and integrate railroads in the North the line has been split into three sections: The southern component is operated by Rumo Logístico for 1,500 km between Porto Nacional (Tocantins) and Estrella de Oriente (São Paulo); at its southern terminus the line connects with the Rumo network that terminates at their massive port facilities at Santos The central component between Porto Nacional and Açailândia (Maranhão) is operated by Valor da Logística Integrada (VLI) which also owns the concession for the Estrado Ferro Carajás (EF-315) between the mining complex at the Serra de Carajás and the Port of Itaqui at São Luis de Maranhão The combination of EF-315 (660 kilometers) and EF-151 (750 kilometers) provides the first fully integrated bulk transport option for farmers from Eastern Mato Grosso Its capacity was enhanced by the simultaneous construction of fifteen grain-loading platforms located between Anápolis (Goiás) and São Luis de Maranhão Because it parallels BR-153 through a consolidated frontier (HML #6 its construction has been relatively free of social conflict Its completion has relieved traffic bottlenecks on the regional highway network while providing a practical alternative to the long-delayed and conflictive Tocantins waterway a third section of the Ferrovía Norte Sul will be built between Açailândia and Barcarena Its construction was postponed because of the expediency of exporting farm commodities via São Luis do Maranhão but the state government of Pará has embraced its completion as a regional priority the governor of Pará presented an ambitious plan to expand the nascent rail network to more fully integrate the agricultural landscapes and mineral assets of eastern Pará with an industries park and port facilities at Barcarena The proposed railway would complete the link between Açailândia and Belem by passing through the oil palm plantations near Tailândia and include spurs to bauxite mines under development at Paragominas and Rondon do Pará the rail line would cross the Tocantins River proceed south to El Dorado do Carajás and then up the Araguaía valley to the border with Mato Grosso Advocates of conventional development support the construction of the railroad because it would generate about 25,000 jobs over the short-term and facilitate the development of a proposed steel mill in Marabá Agribusiness supports the initiative because it would sway the choice of production models along the highway corridor Intensive cropping of soy and maize is already the preferred land-use in Northeast Mato Grosso and the extension of a low-cost grain transport system would accelerate the expansion of industrial agriculture into the municipalities of southeast Pará Environmental advocates and indigenous groups oppose the initiative because they contend that the Ferrovía Paraense will catalyse another wave of deforestation in the last block of remnant forest between Marabá and Belem while spurring land grabbing in the indigenous territories on the headwaters of the Rio Xingu would extend from Port of Vitoria (Espírito Santos) west to near the western border with Peru The transportation ministry has stratified its development into three phases: and Peru signed an agreement to evaluate the feasibility of a transcontinental railroad The route of EF-345 via Acre was one of several projects under evaluation; its proponents contend that it is the most cost-efficient because it would transit the Andes at the Huancabamba Depression where the maximum elevation is only 2,150 meters above sea level approximately half the elevational incline that exists in competing proposals A railroad between Cruzeiro do Sul (HML #28) and Pucallpa (HML #41)would cross two national parks and infringe upon indigenous lands; consequently there is zero possibility that a multilateral agency would finance the project which is why the participation of entities from China was viewed with alarm by environmental advocates The rationale for a transcontinental railroad is based on the assumption that the savings in marine transport would offset the increased cost of rail transport An independent evaluation by the International Union of Railways showed that the energetic cost of crossing the Andes and the capital cost of a new rail line would make the Ferrovía Transcontinental between fifty and a hundred per cent more expensive when compared to routes through southern Brazil or via the Amazon River the Brazilian government announced it would support an alternative proposal via Bolivia; known as the Ferroviário Bioceánico Central this route is both shorter and takes advantage of pre-existing rail lines functionaries within the infrastructure agencies in both Brazil and Peru inserted a nebulous infrastructure component within the IIRSA portfolio a term that leaves open the option of building either by road or rail line The pre-existing rail line that made Bolivia’s transcontinental proposal ‘more attractive’ is a legacy rail system built in the 1950s by Brazil in compensation for the [perceived] loss of territories in the first decades of the twentieth century This rail line may – or may not – be part of a transcontinental railway but it has played an essential role in the development of Bolivia’s agroindustry Bolivia is a land-locked country and the fertile farmland in Santa Cruz (HML #31) is located 2,000 kilometers from the nearest Atlantic port while Pacific ports are located on the other side of the Andean Cordillera Although refined products are exported to Peru by truck it is not economically viable to move bulk grains the Ferroviaria Oriental connects with ports on the Paraguay – Paraná Waterway which allows them to compete in global markets which was built for political rather than economic reasons the agricultural sector in Bolivia would have grown to only a fraction of its current size the Instituto Ecuatoriano de Preinversión commissioned a pre-feasibility study to evaluate the viability of an electric-powered rail network According to descriptions in the general press most of the track would be built on the Pacific coast with the goal of connecting the country’s banana and oil palm plantations to port facilities The idea originated during a time when ambitious plans to reduce carbon emissions were popular among government planners and the concept caught the attention of then-President Rafael Correa The scheme included a spur that would cross the Andes to service the copper mines under development at the Cordillera del Condor and would have been built with the financial and technical support of China The rail line’s demand for electricity would be very large and influenced plans to increase the construction of hydropower dams in the Amazon The feasibility study was completed in 2017 and in the same year incorporated into the IIRSA portfolio of investments; however there is no other evidence the Moreno administration pursued this investment as a priority “A Perfect Storm in the Amazon” is a book by Timothy Killeen and contains the author’s viewpoints and analysis. The second edition was published by The White Horse in 2021 under the terms of a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0 license) Read the other excerpted portions of chapter 2 here: The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa as protected areas become battlegrounds over history and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins and trying to forge a path forward […] today announces the opening of a third new fertilizer blending plant in Brazil The new 27,000m2 facility at Araguari in Minas Gerais a state in the south-eastern part of the country is another step in the continued expansion of EuroChem’s subsidiary a major fertilizer distribution business in Brazil The new plant will produce up to 6,000 tonnes (KMT) of fertilizer a day “Brazil is an important growth market for us and our new plant at Araguari marks the latest stage of our expansion in Latin America” said Petter Ostbo “I’m delighted by the progress we are making here and we will continue to provide high quality fertilizers to our growing customer base.” The Araguari site also has a direct rail connection from the Atlantic seaport of Vitoria facilitating deliveries to local customers of specialty fertilizers produced by EuroChem in Europe meeting the specific needs of Brazilian farmers “The Araguari plant marks our entry into the south-eastern region of Brazil a strategically important part of the country” said FTO’s CEO “After the opening of two other major plants within the past year our focus is now on the consolidation of these new markets so we can continue to maintain our successful rate of growth.” FTO sold more than 1.8 MMT of fertilizers in 2018 making it one of the biggest fertilizer providers in Brazil FTO has six other plants located in Porto Nacional the Group acquired a controlling interest (50%+1 share) in FTO as part of its strategy to strengthen its presence in the fast-growing Latin American fertilizer market EuroChem also owns Emerger Fertilizantes SA a distributor of premium and standard fertilizers in Argentina which it acquired in 2017 (ANS – Rondonópolis) – After a brief pause to attend the meeting of America South Cone Provincials held in Chile from 21 to 23 October 2024 Regional Councillor for America South Cone resumed the Extraordinary Visitation to the St Alphonsus Liguori Province of Campo Grande he arrived at the Salesian presence in Rondonópolis to learn about the work of the local community Warm welcome to the Blessed Maria Romero Meneses community The Salesian community of Blessed Maria Romero Meneses welcomed the Regional Councillor with great enthusiasm received Fr Romero together with the other Salesian members of the house: Fr Danilo Rinaldi Br Mario Bordignon and practical trainee Javael Bokodori Ekureu Fr Romero presided at Mass in the Santa Teresina parish and met with local members of the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA) Although the community today belongs to the diocese in the past it was part of the St John the Baptist parish and despite the fact that the Salesians are no longer responsible for the parish the ADMA group continued to operate actively which is why the Extraordinary Visitation by Fr Gabriel included this meeting The Regional Councillor visited the Salesian Oratory on Saturday Educators and administrative collaborators welcomed him and conversed with him showing him the facilities and telling the story of the construction of each part of the building Fr Romero met the young people and leaders in the Salesian parish dedicated to St John the Baptist and presided over the celebration of Mass Fr Romero accompanied the activities of the young people met with the Bishop of Rondonópolis he also had personal interviews with the Salesians in the community Brazil (DTN) -- A tour bus full of Americans bounces like a carnival ride traveling downhill unsurfaced and seemingly unmaintained road in the middle of a steady downpour while maneuvering around semi-trucks likely loaded with soybeans going the opposite direction It's just another afternoon during harvest in Mato Grosso in Brazil such as its vast acreage -- the state is the size of Illinois Nebraska and Ohio combined (with room to squeeze in Delaware and Rhode Island) Mato Grosso farmers can grow soybeans in the rainy season makes up 75% of the economy of Mato Grosso the Achilles heel in Mato Grosso is infrastructure for all those crops and livestock Mato Grosso lacks people and overall tax base with a population of just 3.4 million of which more than 600,000 live in and around the city of Cuiaba The Institute for Mato Grosso Economics of Agriculture (IMEA) projects it costs $80.51 a ton to get most soybeans and grains to port for farmers in the state That equals roughly $2.20 for each bushel of beans Mato Grosso farmers take significant basis discounts because roughly 60% of Mato Grosso's soybeans go direct to export at ports that can be 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) away it's a seven-day round trip for each semi-load of beans typically two 25-metric-ton trailers of beans and it takes up to 30% of our prices compared to the price at the port," said Ricardo Silva a farmer near Tangara in south-central Mato Grosso Trucks hauling beans dominate the roadways That gave truckers enough influence last year to halt traffic throughout the country last May and early June as truckers demanded higher pay to go along with higher diesel prices Just as Brazilian farmers were getting more for their beans because the U.S-China dispute was heating up While truckers are still waiting for legislation to confirm their gains from the successful strike some of the largest commodity haulers such as Amaggi Group Cargill and others started buying trucks and increasing company-owned trucking fleets Mato Grosso has one railroad that runs from Rondonopolis in the southeast corner of the state to the Santos Port at Sao Paulo There are always discussions about carving out other major rail lines and "planned" expansions show other future links to a major north-south rail line east of Mato Grosso owned by the mining company Vale SA which runs to ports in both the Amazon to the north and in southern Brazil Vale SA had been looking to run a rail line through Mato Grosso but those plans are now likely derailed after a mining dam accident in December that will likely be costly for the mining company financially The Brazilian government also has been working for years to build a 1,100-km (683-mile) railroad which would run from Mato Grosso to the Miritituba Port in Para State on the Tapajos River and Brazilian agribusinesses were bidding for the project Reuters reported last month that the Brazilian government wants to have the Ferrograo railroad bid out late this year or early 2020 in Campo Novo de Parecis expressed disappointment in the Mato Grosso state government over its lack of action on infrastructure The state implemented a tax on farmers specifically for infrastructure improvement but then the state government diverts roughly 30% of the revenues to deal with other funding issues outside of infrastructure The tax revenue also goes up with higher production "We would like to see the money we are paying the tax used for infrastructure as was promised in the beginning," Brolio said "We have some anger at the state government but (are) confident the federal government will focus on infrastructure." BR 163 is the main north-south highway splitting Mato Grosso but even it has areas that need completing to connect the state's trucking system the new minister of infrastructure emphasized that the new government under President Jair Bolsonaro will finish a 50-km (31-mile) stretch of Highway BR 163 from Sinop a city on the other side of the Tapajos River the new minister of infrastructure -- he's a guy we know from Mato Grosso and he knows what he's doing -- he rode in a truck and said he would have the army pave the last 50 km this year," Silva said "That is the promise of this new government and we are very confident." Farmers in other parts of Brazil may not have the scale of production they do in Mato Grosso but they do not bear as much of the transportation cost who manages a 1,768-hectare (4,367-acre) farm near Itaipulandia in Parana state told DTN that buyers come to his farm to pick up soybeans and corn that typically goes to port about 700 km away normally running about 10% to 15% under the prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for the front month also has a more modern overall road system than much of Mato Grosso "We don't have the kind of road issues they have in Mato Grosso," Trevisan said executive director of the Iowa-based Soybean Transportation Coalition noted Brazil has a long track record of intentions not becoming outcomes But it's apparent if Brazil wants to give a shot of economic boost to the rural areas of their country the odds of success with infrastructure are high if Mato Grosso farmers can be linked to more ports "All they have to do is make progress and our competitive advantage starts to erode," Steenhoek said Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com Copyright 2019 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved. Please correct the following errors and try again: Support non-profit journalism and perspectives from around the world. See all those languages? The Lingua project at Global Voices works to bring down barriers to understanding through translation. The subject is still taboo but sexual diversity has been increasingly discussed The image above shows the cacica Majur | Photo: Personal archive/Used with permission by Amazônia Real This text, written by Keka Werneck, was originally published on the Amazônia Real website It is republished here under a partnership agreement Majur began to realize her identity as a girl at the age of 12. In Apido Paru village, on the Indigenous land of Tadarimana in Rondonópolis, in Mato Grosso state in Brazil's Amazon, where she was born and lives, this was never a problematic question. For a time, however, the woman of the Boe Bororo ethnicity did not fully understand what was happening within herself Today, at the age of 30, she identifies as a transsexual woman and is going through her gender transition, while also becoming a cacica (Indigenous chief) due to the retirement of her 79-year-old father for health reasons Majur has left the male name Gilmar Traytowu in the past “I am undergoing [the transition] in stages under the supervision of an endocrinologist in Rondonópolis,” she told Amazônia Real in an interview Majur was hoping to access the transition treatment at no charge through the Unified Health System (SUS She knows this is not the reality for most LGBTQIA+ Indigenous people While I have never suffered it from my parents and in society generally as well,” she explained Even with the opportunity to leave the village to study she decided to stay and work alongside her people she raises two nieces as if they were her own daughters — one of them has already given her “two little grandchildren.” “I always say that our sexual [orientation] does not define our personality not what homophobic society wants us to be,” she said adding that she always thanks Aroe Eimejera the Chief of Spirits” of the Bororo people The Amazonian stylist Sioduhi | Photo: Jéssica Lagoas/Used with permission from Amazônia Real sexual diversity in the villages has been gaining space with more Indigenous people deciding to break the silence At 25, Amazonian stylist Sioduhi, from the Pira-Tapuya people (also called Waíkahana) remembers how difficult it was to realize he was gay “This realization weighed heavily on me specifically because I was born in an area with heavy colonization There is a high number of Catholics and Protestants there It’s a place where colonization impacts in such a way that we all suffer from the process of integrationism,” he said he has sought to guide this debate in a more open way I have been talking more about these issues due to the construction of binarism (man-woman) and Christian guilt We were told that we are going to hell,” he said When he decided to pursue his dream of becoming a stylist he carried all this burden and history to São Paulo which is reflected in his creative process and spiritual and moral violence also all went with him It is not rare that an Indigenous LGBTQIA+ person ends up feeling isolated and oppressed within their own territory For the Waíkahana people, Sioduhi means “ancestral spirit of a baiá,” the singer of the sacred ceremonies. He was born and raised in the Mariwá community, in São Gabriel da Cachoeira The region has the greatest diversity of Indigenous ethnicities At the age of 12, he moved to the city to study. Three years ago, Sioduhi arrived in Pedras city, in São Paulo state. Resisting is what he has learned to do, being Indigenous, gay, and chasing his childhood dream of becoming a stylist. He created the label Sioduhi Studio Anthropologist Bárbara Arisi | Photo: Personal archive/Used with permission from Amazônia Real in anthropology at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) is a researcher on sexual diversity among Indigenous people “My doctoral research was with the Matis who live in the Vale do Javari Indigenous Territory where the Javari River separates the two countries,” she explained The Vale do Javari Indigenous Territory is in Amazonas State and is Brazil's second-largest Indigenous territory More than 6,000 recently contacted and isolated Indigenous people live there The researcher's first book “Gay Indians in Brazil: untold stories of the colonization of indigenous sexualities,” was published in 2017 by the Swiss publisher Springer and talks about the untold history of Indigenous sexualities before the arrival of the Portuguese and Spanish and Dominican friars recorded the presence of other non-monogamous non-heterosexual sexual practices that the Indigenous peoples as well as many other Indigenous people around the world before European colonization,” explained the anthropologist the violence against practices that people would later call homosexual is part of a process of Catholic cultural imposition over Indigenous practices relating to ways of establishing families Her second book “Queer Natives in Latin America: forbidden chapters of colonial history,” was published this year It provides an overview of the scant literature on the subject as well as accounts of contemporary “The book is about everything we found concerning material in archaeology in the chroniclers’ records up to the more contemporary period about how some Indigenous people today say they are ‘pueblos maricas,’ for example a term used in South America,” she emphasized A similar term in Brazil would be “Indigenous queer” Tarisson Nawa | Photo: Personal archive/Used with permission from Amazônia Rea For the Nawa people in the northern state of Acre according to journalist José Tarisson Costa da Silva there are accounts that their ancestors expressed their sexuality in such a comfortable way that it was not necessary to declare one's sexual orientation “Sexuality didn't have this hierarchy or relationship of violence with people asserting oneself as an Indigenous LGBTQIA+ person is fundamental to the struggle It is the difference within the difference,” he explained highlighted that the issue of gender within Indigenous peoples is now being raised by Indigenous women's movements “Because gender struggles bring about other ways of being and living within the territory,” Tarisson observed “Together with the women's struggle linked to gender issues there are also issues of sexuality,” he said He notes that in most territories colonization directly affected the sexuality of Indigenous peoples “I have my reservations about saying that everything is a product of the violence of colonization it is a fact that colonization had an impact but we have to take into account that in Brazil there are 305 Indigenous peoples it is difficult to measure to what extent the fluidity of gender and sexuality existed in all these territories before colonization,” he said discrimination and prejudice against sexual diversity among Indigenous people depends on the context “I always think that Indigenous communities are more accepting of people ERROR: SECURITY TIMEOUT - Please copy your message to a backup location Global Voices stands out as one of the earliest and strongest examples of how media committed to building community and defending human rights can positively influence how people experience events happening beyond their own communities and national borders Please consider making a donation to help us continue this work Donate now Authors, please log in » Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Stay up to date about Global Voices and our mission. See our Privacy Policy for details. Newsletter powered by Mailchimp (Privacy Policy and Terms) Global Voices is supported by the efforts of our volunteer contributors, foundations, donors and mission-related services. For more information please read our Fundraising Ethics Policy Special thanks to our many sponsors and funders the Chinese have turned soybeans into tofu which require higher volumes of soybeans as animal feed China is turning to a new trading partner 15,000 miles away — Brazil — to supply more protein-packed beans essential to a richer diet China’s global scramble for natural resources is leading to a transformation of agricultural trading around the world vanishing cropland and diminishing water supplies are hampering the country’s ability to feed itself and the increasing use of farmland in the United States to produce biofuels is pushing China to seek more of its staples from South America “China is out there beating the bushes,” said Robert L a professor at the University of Illinois who is a former director of agricultural and rural development at the World Bank is “to ensure they have access to long-term contracts for minerals and energy and food.” the biggest bilateral food trade flowed between the United States But countries with vast arable land available for expansion whose population of 1.3 billion is 10 times that of Japan’s Farmers in the United States have started planting far more corn for ethanol at the expense of other crops But after the United States grain embargo by President Richard M Nixon in the early 1970s helped spawn Brazil’s soybean industry American farmers are not giving up their leading role in the grain trade easily With a far superior system for transporting crops to global markets American farmers still enjoy many advantages over their new competitors from Brazil and elsewhere in the developing world Infrastructure and financing constraints in Brazil will keep the competition to feed China in flux for years to come At the heart of the shift is the global competition for land to grow crops has room to double its available cropland to equal the scale of the United States even without clearing any more of the Amazon rainforest “All of a sudden you have a global market for land a competition between several different products for the same amount of land,” said Sergio Barroso president for the Brazil operations of Cargill Brazil’s soybean industry is losing acres to sugar cane for ethanol production in some areas “If you put it all together between feed and food,” Mr “it is going to be a tremendous challenge.” Expectations ran high three years ago when Hu Jintao visited South America and toasted a strategic partnership with his Brazilian counterpart predicting trade between the countries would double to $20 billion Brazilians have been disappointed in the follow-up The Chinese have struggled with red tape in Brazil and hesitated while waiting for Brazilian rules to activate public-private investments “Very little has happened,” said Pedro de Camargo Neto a former official in the agriculture ministry in Brazil who is now an agribusiness consultant But China has continued its buying spree in Brazil The soybean trade between the countries has exploded Last year Brazil sent nearly 11 million tons of beans to China a 50 percent increase from the previous year and nearly double the amount shipped in 2004 Early indications are that Brazil has produced yet another record crop and analysts expect that China will devour most of it While the United States remains the largest producer of soybeans last year Brazil became the biggest exporter This year the United States will regain the crown but its soybean exports are expected to fall by 23 percent by 2009-10 the surge in exports to China has created unease among many in Brazilian agriculture who worry the tightening relationship will accelerate a development model in which Brazil is too reliant on sales of raw natural resources rather than higher-value products And after enjoying a trade surplus with China Brazil slipped into a deficit in the most recent quarter as the Chinese stepped up shipments of manufactured goods The challenge of supplying China is already showing signs of strain A soybean boom has turned to a bust in the last two years for many farmers here in Mato Grosso a state in western Brazil the size of Texas and Kansas that produces more than a third of the country’s beans Rogerio Salles watched recently as a handful of combines harvested the last soybeans on his 17,500-acre farm ringed by eucalyptus and rubber trees “Just because we’re producing a lot of beans here doesn’t mean we’re making money,” he said The strong Brazilian currency and a transportation bottleneck are conspiring against many Mato Grosso farmers Most of the beans are trucked south more than a thousand miles along highways riddled with potholes some ships wait at anchor up to a month before finding a dock to load the beans “If major investments are not made in transport infrastructure China cannot count on this region being a stable supplier to its market,” Mr Moving soybeans from Mato Grosso to ports in Brazil costs more than four times what American farmers spend to get beans from the Midwest to New Orleans and the Pacific Northwest Brazilian farms realize far less for their crops than their American counterparts Brazil’s agricultural sector has been dominated by large investors who bought huge tracts at cheap prices and by multinational grain traders — like Minneapolis-based Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland provided financing and lined up the overseas buyers is the largest soybean grower in the world with 400,000 acres of his own under production ”It has been all about a land grab in Brazil,” said Daniel W Growers in the state amassed $14.5 billion in debt in the last two years Farmers say they can no longer afford storage space forcing them to sell their crops as soon as harvested The growers’ desperation has allowed the major grain traders to tighten their grip Brazilian farmers say they are paying up to 25 percent more for supplies like fertilizers provided by the traders “We are becoming slaves of the big trading companies,” said Ricardo Tomczyk the general manager for grains and oilseeds at Cargill Brazil said that Cargill stopped financing several farmers in Mato Grosso last year after they failed to pay their bills Such orphaned farmers could soon find new Chinese benefactors who are looking to make inroads in the clubby world of Brazilian agriculture president of the Brazil-China Chamber of Commerce Brazilian farmers say they would welcome Chinese money But they worry about China’s growing clout as a soybean buyer Memories are still fresh of the 2004 “red beans” incident when China rejected shipments of Brazilian soybeans after claiming they were contaminated Brazilian producers are working with American growers to diversify their buyers American soybean producers organized a joint trade mission with Mato Grosso farmers in December to India The Chinese want to connect directly with Brazilian farmers bypassing the multinational grain merchants While they have yet to make a major purchase of cropland in Brazil they are looking to invest in improved facilities and upgrade the antiquated rail system China began looking overseas for more soybean supplies in the mid-1990s when the scope of its land and water problems became clearer Beijing has also chosen to use more of its arable farmland to grow fruits and vegetables crops that make better use of China’s cheap labor and scarcer water supplies to generate higher returns on the export market where soybeans traditionally have been grown water tables are dropping at a rate of 3 to 10 feet a year a researcher with the China Groundwater Information Center in Beijing “It takes a thousand tons of water to produce one ton of grain,” said Lester R an environmental research and advocacy group “So the most efficient way to import water is in the form of grain.” produced by the BCG Province Social Communication team The municipality of Rondonópolis then gave the Salesians a "Motion of Applause" for the services rendered to the city community through the oratory and Fr Ricardo Carlos received the title of "Rondonopolitano Citizen" Brazil - 21 June 2019 - The Salesians Vanderson de Souza Gomes and Douglas Chrystiano Silva Souza were ordained priests by the auxiliary archbishop of Manaus Edmílson Tadeu Canavarros dos Santos Fr Douglas then celebrated his first Mass on June 23 in the parish of St Anthony in the city of Barra do Garças while Fr Vanderson celebrated the first Mass in the same parish where he received the ordination ordained the Salesian Rafael Gustavo Lopes a priest in the presence of Fr Ricardo Carlos