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Produção agrícola

Alternative to wheat, barley makes room in the South and paves the way for record production

Section: Economic Statistics | Rodrigo Paradella | Design: Helena Pontes

June 12, 2018 09h00 AM | Last Updated: June 12, 2018 01h06 PM

Known as an important ingredient in the manufacture of beer, barley saw its production increase by 49.2% between 2017 and 2018, according to the May estimate of the Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production, released today by the IBGE. The cereal made room especially in Paraná and in Rio Grande do Sul and hit its record in the time series as an alternative to wheat, more traditional in the area.

The South Region produces practically all barley harvested in Brazil, as well as oat, another product that expanded between 2017 and 2018, with a growth of 23.5%. This year, the estimate is that 427.3 thousand metric tons of barley and a little more than 752 thousand metric tons of oats will be harvested. Even more common than its substitutes, wheat should have a harvest of 5.6 million metric tons.

"The price of wheat is low and production is very weather-sensitive. The southern climate for wheat is very unstable, and if it rains too much, the quality gets worse, for example. Besides, free trade with Argentina facilitates the entry of their production. Therefore, the producer lately has been looking for alternatives to wheat, increasing the areas of barley and oats, "explains research manager Carlos Barradas.

Barley growth in relation to last year, as a matter of fact, only loses to castor beans, which more than doubled its previous crop (108.6%). "Sometimes the farmer starts to plant it not so much to harvest it, but to have a plant cover for the production of soybeans in the following year, because it improves the soybean quality. It keeps the soil covered with this planting," completes Barradas.

Like oats, barley is planted in the southern region in the post-harvest period of soybeans, one of the flagships of the Brazilian agriculture, which must hit a record in 2018, with a harvest of 115.8 million metric tons in the country. The growth of barley as a winter crop has been due to its greater profitability.

"Indeed, some breweries have already entered into contracts with farmers to produce barley. Wheat is not a certain liquidity, while barley has a higher profitability; just like oat, which can also feed animals. Especially in Rio Grande do Sul, which has a large animal production," concludes the manager of the LSPA.

In relation to the other crops, the survey forecasts a 5.2% decrease in production in May compared to 2017. The total of 228.1 million metric tons did not surpass 240.6 million last year, but it is still the second-best performance of the Brazilian agriculture in the history of cereal, legume and oilseed production.



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