Muito Quente

Mutio quente is a good description of today. Muito quente is Portuguese for "very hot." Today was in the mid 90's as we learned more about Brazilian agriculture. We started learning about cotton production. We were able to visit a cotton producer who works with Bayer Crop Science to produce cotton seed for future crops. He shared production practices, challenges, and some of the equipment used. Most of our group is familiar with corn and soybean production so a lot was learned.

From the farm we traveled to visit a cotton processing plant that is Japanese owned. They sell the cotton (60% exported, 40% domestic), keep seed for future crops, and then utilize the rest of the seeds for livestock feed. We were able to see the procedure of processing cotton including grading. The processing plant, also, had a large fruit and vegetable area so we were able to explore different fruits and vegetables produced in the region.

After lunch we traveled to Caramuru, a corn and soybean processing plant. We began with the corn plant where they were processing corn. A majority of the corn is processed into corn meal for cooking purposes and human consumption. The plant was "muito quente" with all the equipment running in the heat of the afternoon. Following our time in the corn processing area we made our way  to the oil extraction facility. They primarily produce soybean oil (90% of oil production), but also work with sunflower, canola, and corn oil. While there primary product is oil for cooking they use all parts of the crops in some way, shape, or form. Their packaging facility was impressive with all the robots. They are able to produce 700,000 liters of oil in one day.

Back home many of our students head to the river on a very hot day. In Brazil things are no different. One of the agribusiness that is hosting us in this area offered to meet us as the river to cool off. We enjoyed conversations while swimming and boating. Today concluded with dinner where we enjoyed great food and live Brazilian pop music. Tomorrow we make a long trek back to Brasilia before catching our flight back to the states tomorrow night.