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Brazil develops tropical wheat and predicts self-sufficiency in 5 years

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Re: Brazil develops tropical wheat and predicts self-sufficiency in 5 years

#61

Post by thrwawy74 »

marcodiego wrote: post #26

There are a few things that would make Brazil a lot more stable economically (and even socially and politically) if we achieved self-sufficiency: Fossil fuels: Currently, Brazil is self-sufficient in oil, but we export petrol to buy back refined fuels (gasoline and diesel). If we were self-sufficient in fossil fuels we would be much more immune to inflation every time OPEC decides to reduce oil output. Wheat: We are…

I found this compelling but I'm still seeing how objective it is as we carry out this timeline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi_nFz1CJSI

Re: Brazil develops tropical wheat and predicts self-sufficiency in 5 years

#62

Post by lbrito »

diego_moita wrote: post #50
morkalork wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you propose, just sit down and wait for starvation to set in?

No, there are 2 solutions for Brazil's problems: Guarulhos and Galeão. I took Guarulhos, 10 years ago. Couldn't be happier.

Ugh. On behalf of the non insufferable Brazilians abroad, I apologize to HN. We are not all like this.

Re: Brazil develops tropical wheat and predicts self-sufficiency in 5 years

#63

Post by gexla »

marcodiego wrote: post #26

There are a few things that would make Brazil a lot more stable economically (and even socially and politically) if we achieved self-sufficiency: Fossil fuels: Currently, Brazil is self-sufficient in oil, but we export petrol to buy back refined fuels (gasoline and diesel). If we were self-sufficient in fossil fuels we would be much more immune to inflation every time OPEC decides to reduce oil output. Wheat: We are…

> Wheat: We are the top of the world exporting foods. We produce 6x our current need.

What? Source? Just some rough Google search results seem to consistently show China as #1 in production and the US being #1 in exports (and in the top 3 for production.) The first result I found showed Brazil as #4.

Maybe you're ultimately correct, but you should show a source when making those claims (I'm not trying to make a claim.)

Re: Brazil develops tropical wheat and predicts self-sufficiency in 5 years

#65

Post by Qem »

daveguy wrote: post #6

Anyone familiar with the governmental policies of Brazil? They mentioned deforestation twice to say that it's not a problem because this will be done on existing farmland. But, how long that will hold when there's money to be made?

> They mentioned deforestation twice to say that it's not a problem because this will be done on existing farmland.

I'm skeptical of this reasoning. Wheat may be planted on existing farmland. But then where will the previous crops on that farmland be planted? If one changes a bean farm to a wheat farm, but then somebody else slashes and burn Amazon Forest or Pantanal to plant the displaced beans, then we have a net loss.

Re: Brazil develops tropical wheat and predicts self-sufficiency in 5 years

#66

Post by blacksqr »

scythe wrote: post #37
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #5

They claim the current wheat yield is 3.3 tons/hectare while the new variety has yield 10 tons/hectare, about a 3x difference. What impact does this have on the micronutrient profile of the harvested crop? And does this result in faster depletion of those micronutrients from the soil, i.e. is it sustainable to harvest this crop?

Yields of most plants are higher in the tropics: there is more sunlight, more water, and no frost. Wheat, historically, hasn't been able to benefit from this as it wasn't adapted to the climate. Most minor minerals are present in plants to the tune of 0.001% by weight or less. We extract many times as much manganese, chromium, copper etc as the metal as we would from the soil. Selenium is generally postulated as the…

The bottleneck on large-scale farming is always nitrogen fertilizer.

The only adequate source of nitrogen is ammonia manufactured from petroleum.

So Brazil's chief challenge will be obtaining adequate ammonium fertilizers.

Re: Brazil develops tropical wheat and predicts self-sufficiency in 5 years

#67

Post by ajot »

foobarian wrote: post #57
jasmer wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"would make Brazil a lot more stable economically (and even socially and politically) " It's the other way around. Brazil and Argentina especially should be rich, what's lacking is coherent social organization from top to bottom. Obviously it matters more at the top, but it has to be borne by regular people as well. Same could be said of other Central/South American nations, but geographic factors and natural resourc…

Why don't the states there organize into a southern United States? It feels silly to talk about self-sufficiency and all when the analog at country level is the USA states. Nobody would expect e.g. Rhode Island to feed itself, but thankfully there is the Midwest. Maybe Bolivar's dream could come true one day.

Well, Bolivar tried but, luckilly, failed. Good for us he was no big military genius, and a coward in battle. We don't need a Napoleon wannabe in South America, thank you very much.

Re: Brazil develops tropical wheat and predicts self-sufficiency in 5 years

#69

Post by joak »

Qem wrote: post #65
daveguy wrote: post #6

Anyone familiar with the governmental policies of Brazil? They mentioned deforestation twice to say that it's not a problem because this will be done on existing farmland. But, how long that will hold when there's money to be made?

> They mentioned deforestation twice to say that it's not a problem because this will be done on existing farmland. I'm skeptical of this reasoning. Wheat may be planted on existing farmland. But then where will the previous crops on that farmland be planted? If one changes a bean farm to a wheat farm, but then somebody else slashes and burn Amazon Forest or Pantanal to plant the displaced beans, then we have a net l…

Yes, more agriculture means more damage to the Amazon forest. Brazil would also start exporting wheat.

Re: Brazil develops tropical wheat and predicts self-sufficiency in 5 years

#70

Post by xeromal »

gexla wrote: post #63
marcodiego wrote: post #26

There are a few things that would make Brazil a lot more stable economically (and even socially and politically) if we achieved self-sufficiency: Fossil fuels: Currently, Brazil is self-sufficient in oil, but we export petrol to buy back refined fuels (gasoline and diesel). If we were self-sufficient in fossil fuels we would be much more immune to inflation every time OPEC decides to reduce oil output. Wheat: We are…

> Wheat: We are the top of the world exporting foods. We produce 6x our current need. What? Source? Just some rough Google search results seem to consistently show China as #1 in production and the US being #1 in exports (and in the top 3 for production.) The first result I found showed Brazil as #4. Maybe you're ultimately correct, but you should show a source when making those claims (I'm not trying to make a claim…

It could just mean they're one of the top of the world. Probably just a slip up. I wouldn't read into it too much. lol
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