Good Cerrado Land

What is good cerrado land?

There is good and poor rainfed cerrado land. For rainfed land, we define good cerrado land as land that is highly productive or has the potential to become highly productive with the least investment. Rainfed land productivity in the cerrados is heavily dependent on two factors--manmade fertility improvements and rainfall--the amount and distribution of rain through the growing season.

Cerrado land produces nothing of value without fertility improvement. The cost of improving fertility varies greatly from one area to another. For example, soils with aluminum saturation of around 0.5 require approximately 4 tons of limestone/ha on opening, while soils with aluminum saturation of 1.0 need 8 to 10 tons. Furthermore, soils with high aluminum saturation require continued high annual maintenance applications of limestone. With current technology, it can take 10 or more years for soils with high aluminum saturation to reach fertility levels sufficient to produce corn, and several more years to produce cotton.

Once soil fertility is corrected and maintained, land productivity on rainfed land depends on rainfall amount and distribution. Annual average rainfall in Western Bahia ranges from 1,100mm to more than 1,800mm during a 6 month period from October to April. Soybean production is feasible with precipitation of 600 mm (25 inches) if rain is evenly distributed over the growing season. However, the probability of perfect rainfall distribution in the dryer areas of the cerrados is virtually nil.

Brazil's entire cerrado region is subject to veranicos, a period of little or no rainfall during the rainy season. Although these mini-droughts typically occur in January, they may hit at any time. The veranicos may last from 10 days to more than 30 days and may seriously affect yields of some crops. In general, lower rainfall areas have longer veranicos, but this is not an absolute rule.

By definition, good rainfed cerrado land, among other qualities, is land that is less impacted by veranicos than poor cerrado land. Land in some locations is more productive because average duration of veranicos is shorter and less severe than in other locations. Soil water holding capacities of different areas also vary and affect how crops are impacted by veranicos (see note below).

Agronomists emphasize basic input/output relationships and point out that the cost of production for crops on good cerrado land is the same as production cost on poor cerrado land. But the probabilities of a good crop on good land are significantly greater than on poor land.

It is important to note that the potential productivity of land receiving 1,100 mm of rainfall can be equal to or better than that of land receiving 1,800 mm of rainfall, but only with irrigation. With irrigation, two or more crops can be produced each year. This is an attraction to some investors. Should you buy expensive prime rainfed land or cheap dryer land that must be irrigated? AgBrazil can help you work through that decision.

If you are seriously considering buying land in Brazil's cerrado area for rainfed crop production, be certain you know what you are buying. There is a fairly direct relationship between rainfall and price. Land with high rainfall sells for more than land with low rainfall. No seller of land is likely to understate the amount of rainfall, but many will overstate the amount of rainfall. Buyer Beware!

IMP0RTANT NOTE: AgBrazil has compiled meteorological data going back 50 years or more from 100 weather-monitoring stations in the cerrados. As a part of the economic and agronomic feasibility assessments we conduct for clients, we document and verify average annual rainfall, average duration of veranicos (distribution of rainfall), and probabilities of monthly rainfall amounts, etc. In terms of average annual rainfall, virtually all areas of Western Bahia appear to receive sufficient moisture to grow dryland soybeans, corn and cotton. However, the distribution of rainfall during the growing season is the factor that determines the feasibility of dryland farming in the region. BUYER BEWARE! In addition to average rainfall, know the distribution of rainfall before buying land in Western Bahia. This is absolutely critical investment information. Without knowledge of long-term rainfall patterns, cerrado land investment for dryland farming can be highly risky!

AgBrazil makes every effort to document for clients recorded crop yields of farms in the investment area, and previous yields of farms on the market. A major reason we focus on the Western Bahia area is because we have documented yield records going back 20 years or more. The higher rainfall areas with good seasonal distribution of precipitation have not had a crop failure since first opened. There have been years of low rainfall and years with veranicos. These years sometimes brought lower yields, but they did slow the profitable advance of the area's agriculture.