Vaivém: The wheat production potential in the country is good, but there are challenges

The country is waking up to wheat, and growth prospects are consistent. Brazil needs, however, to solve specific problems in each region.

For Roberto Rodrigues, coordinator of FGVAgro and former Minister of Agriculture, the cerrado, from now on, and definitively, is in the way of wheat. The tropicalization of the cereal is a guarantee of growth.

The planting area is available in the Cerrado, but Embrapa still needs to make some adjustments against diseases that affect the culture and adaptation of varieties, although it already has crops that yield close to ten tons per hectare in the region.

Jorge Lemainski, general manager of Embrapa Trigo, says that one of the challenges is the control of blast, a disease that manifests itself with spots on the leaves and blanching and death of the ears in hot areas.

The cerrado also requires varieties with power to tolerate water stress. The topic was discussed at the 29th Abitrigo Wheat Congress (Brazilian Wheat Industry Association).

The tropicalization of wheat in Brazil also requires an advance in the chain of this cereal to new regions, which include from the Midwest to the North and Northeast.

In the South, the attack is caused by Fib, a fungus that makes the plant sick, which can compromise both the volume and the quality of the cereal. The appearance of this disease depends a lot on weather conditions.

Embrapa is also developing new varieties for planting wheat for animal consumption. Planting takes place in the winter period in the South, when part of the lands of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande Sul are inactive.

Research can provide the producer with a competitive crop that can even compete for space with other crops, such as corn.

Carlos Hugo Godinho, from the Deral (Department of Rural Economy) in Paraná, a state that reduced its wheat area to 1.18 million hectares this year, credits this loss to the producer’s option for corn, which is generally more profitable.

Wheat productivity in Paraná can exceed 3 tons per hectare in several regions. The price of this cereal, to bring a better yield than that of maize, however, has to exceed the value of maize by 1.8 times. Hence the greater option of the producer for corn, and not for wheat in the state.

At current price levels for these two cereals, wheat, even though it is traded at R$92 per bag, still has a lower yield than corn, which is worth R$84.

In Rio Grande do Sul, the combination of a series of factors is improving activity in the state, according to Hamilton Jardim, coordinator of Farsul’s Wheat and Winter Crops Commission.

The wheat from Rio Grande do Sul, with the improvement in quality, started to have greater acceptance abroad, according to Jardim. This year’s data point to a record volume of exports. Quality is also important to attract more national mills, he says.

Agreements between the protein production industry, such as ABPA (Brazilian Association of Animal Protein), and organizations representing producers will encourage the production of wheat, triticale, oats and other winter cereals.

Jardim says that the bet on increasing wheat production in the state also comes from the demand of the ethanol industry, which starts and uses winter cereals.

Rio Grande do Sul, unlike Paraná, increased the wheat area this year. 1.45 million hectares were sown, 12% more than in 2021. Production is expected to jump to a record 4.9 million tons, which will allow the country to reach a national volume close to 9.6 million tons .

Despite the high costs, the producer from Rio Grande do Sul will still have financial reimbursement, according to the representative of the Chamber of Wheat. For Godinho, from Deral, the challenge will be the cost pressure for the next harvest.

The production potential of São Paulo also grows. The state, which produced just 90,000 tonnes two decades ago, should reach 400,000 to 450,000 tonnes, according to Ruy Zanardi, president of the São Paulo Wheat Sector Chamber.

Although the search in the state is for a quality product and within the requirements of the mills, the state has the capacity to raise this production to a level close to 800 thousand tons in the coming years, says Zanardi.

Even with production much lower than Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo has the city with the highest wheat production value in the country. This leadership, according to the IBGE, belongs to Itapeva, which registered R$ 206 million in 2021.

Embrapa Resources for research at Embrapa are short. In addition to little, the company has to spend a lot on funding to keep the commitments already made.

Embrapa 2 Agriculture Minister Marcos Montes says that a larger volume would really be needed, but investments must have a legal source.

Embrapa 3 The government has harmed, in a good way, some sectors, but for the greater good, he says. There is no point in spending resources at a higher level if the country is going to have difficulties down the road. Fiscal responsibility must be met, he said at the 29th Abitrigo Wheat Congress.

The journalist traveled to Foz do Iguaçu (PR) at the invitation of Abitrigo