The AGROPOLICS Blog

Over the last few years, Brazil has been thrust onto the global stage like never before. Years of strong growth during the early 2000s made the country a darling among investors in emerging markets and earned it a distinguished spot within the group of BRIC countries. Just as economic growth was cooling, a successful, if controversial, execution of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics again turned the spotlight on Brazil. More recently, headlines about corruption and political instability have ensured that Brazil has stayed top of mind...

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There is a popular proverb in Argentina that says: ‘El que se quema con leche, cuando ve una vaca, llora’, which translates to: ‘He who burns himself with milk, cries when he sees a cow.’ Perhaps this phrase has never been manifested so literally as now, with stakeholders in Argentina’s dairy industry close to tears as they await signals about the future of the country’s biggest milk cooperative, SanCor...

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In today’s blog we have the unique opportunity to speak with Kyle Althoff, the founder of Equinox, a consultancy providing strategy, planning, and execution services to the bio-conversion and agribusiness industries...

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Even if you are someone who appreciates lemon meringue pie, lemonade, and a slice of citrus in their soda, you have probably not given much thought to where your lemons come from. If that is the case, you may be surprised to learn that not only is Argentina one of the world’s leading lemon producers, but that for years an intense conflict has been brewing over the import of Argentine lemons into the United States...

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Since early in his campaign and now throughout his tenure, President Donald Trump has had multilateral trade agreements, and especially NAFTA, in the crosshairs. He has blamed trade as the main source of strife for the American worker and has railed against trade deals such as NAFTA for exporting jobs overseas. However, as most people involved with the food and farming sector know, American agriculture has benefitted greatly from international trade, and especially trade with Mexico. In today’s post, we’ll take a look at NAFTA and what it has meant for American producers and consumers of agricultural products...

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For today’s post we are thrilled to welcome Todd Hubbs, Scott Irwin, and Darrel Good from the University of Illinois. Todd, Scott, and Darrel are regular contributors to the university’s Farmdoc daily and are currently writing a series of articles examining corn and soybean yields in Argentina and Brazil...

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Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend the International Dairy Foods Association’s Dairy Forum, which in my opinion, is the dairy industry’s premier annual meeting. The conference covers a broad swath of topics, but always provides a close look at the evolution of the political environment and an extrapolation of what it means for the US and global dairy sectors. As you might expect, this year provided much food for thought. As industry experts preached their perspectives and the hallways filled with attendees debating their merits, one theme became abundantly clear. Uncertainty will be the name of the game for the global agricultural economy in the coming years...

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Last week, dairy sector stakeholders from across the world gathered in Curitiba, Brazil to attend the 2nd annual Latin America Dairy Congress put on by Zenith and Agripoint. I was fortunate enough, not only to attend, but to have been given the opportunity to present my observations as a foreigner who lives and works within the dairy sector in the region...

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In today’s blog we have the honor of speaking with Michael DeSa, Founder and Owner of AG DTours, a US based firm that offers support to investors looking to gain exposure to the agriculture sector in Latin America, specifically through the purchase of farmland...

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When we think about agriculture and agricultural products, what we put into our pet’s bowl is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Nevertheless, the pet food industry is an important one whose product utilizes many agricultural commodities as inputs. As human demographics shift and evolve, we would expect to see these changes reflected in pet ownership, creating numerous opportunities for the pet food industry...

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Since taking office on December 10th of last year, president Mauricio Macri has made a concerted effort to restore Argentina’s relevance on the global stage. Unlike his most recent predecessors, who attempted to insulate the country from international competition and shunned interaction with certain nations, especially the United States, Macri rapidly implemented a number of policies and measures designed to reinsert, and amplify, Argentina’s role in global commerce...

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When Katherine Lee Bates wrote the lyrics for ‘America, the Beautiful’ in 1893 (at the time called simply ‘America’), she probably didn’t realize her “amber waves of grain” would become one of the most iconic images of the United States and of American agriculture. But despite its important role in patriotic imagery, wheat often stands in the shadow of the more prominent grains. Today let’s give wheat its due, and explore the wheat industry in the United States and Latin America in order to better understand how the two are connected...

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