How harvesting information from other countries can help farmers here

Agriculture is clearly a global enterprise.

[Study grain long enough and the world shrinks," Dan Morgan writes in the book Merchants of Grain. [The wheat rising here and the demand for break there cease to be isolated events separated by thousands of miles and become interconnected episodes in the `Planetary Village.`"

Brazil is the world`s second-largest producer of soybeans, trailing only the U.S., and its farms can exceed 100,000 acres in size and produce two crops per year. What they grow, how they grow it and how they deliver it to market are questions of particular interest to other farmers.

How deep do they plant their various crops? What are some of their soil issues? What is their ideal crop rotation? What kind of equipment do they use? What does their rail/transportation system look? What are their policy challenges?

In Canada, there are various media through which agronomic information is shared. Agricultural newspapers disseminate key messages and trends. And agronomists share important production and research-related information with each other at conferences or other places.
But there is a lot we don`t know about how things are done elsewhere. We know Brazil produces a lot of wheat, corn, soybeans and other crops. We can read reports and news from the area, but nothing compares to real-life anecdotes.

It`s spring in Brazil now, and I`m guessing the year`s second round of seeding has either just happened or is about to.