page_title: Agriculture in Brazil
section_title: South
hierarchical_section_title: Agriculture in Brazil / Agribusiness / Regions / South
caption_attribution_description: English: Apple Trees01
context_page_description: The agriculture of Brazil is historically one of the principal bases of Brazil's economy. While its initial focus was on sugarcane, Brazil eventually became the world's largest exporter of coffee, soybeans, beef, and crop-based ethanol.
  The success of agriculture during the Estado Novo, with Getúlio Vargas, led to the expression, "Brazil, breadbasket of the world".
  As of 2009, Brazil had about 106,000,000 hectares of undeveloped fertile land – a territory larger than the combined area of France and Spain.
  According to a 2008 IBGE study, despite the world financial crisis, Brazil had record agricultural production, with growth of 9.1%, principally motivated by favorable weather. The production of grains in the year reached an unprecedented 145,400,000 tons. That record output employed an additional 4.8% in planted area, totalling 65,338,000 hectares and producing $148 billion Reals. The principal products were corn and soy.
  The southern one-half to two-thirds of Brazil has a semi-temperate climate, higher rainfall, more fertile soil, more advanced technology and input use, adequate infrastructure and more experienced farmers. This region produces most of Brazil's grains, oilseeds.
context_section_description: The southern Brazilian states are Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná. Cooperatives are a common feature of agriculture there. Soy, corn, wheat, rice, tobacco, grape, apple, sugar cane, cassava and beans are the highlights of the region. It also has relevant productions of orange, oat, barley, peach, fig, onion, garlic, tangerine, persimmon and strawberry. The region is Brazil's largest tobacco producer and the world's largest exporter.
  In 2020, the South produced 32% of the national total of cereals, vegetables and oilseeds. There were 77.2 million tons, second place in Brazil, losing only to the Midwest. Paraná (14.9%) and Rio Grande do Sul (14.3%) are the 2nd and 3rd largest producers in the country.
  Rio Grande do Sul is the largest producer of rice in the country, with 70.5% of Brazil's production, close to 7.3 million tons in 2020. Santa Catarina was the second largest national producer, with around 1.1 million tons of the product.
  Rio Grande do Sul is the largest producer of tobacco in Brazil, and is the largest exporter in the world. Brazil is the second largest producer in the world and leader in tobacco exports since the 1990s, with 98% of Brazilian production being carried out in the South Region.
  The western region of Paraná is today the main pole for transforming grains into animal protein in the country.
  In soy, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul are among the largest producers in the country, with about 16% of national production for each one, second only to Mato Grosso, which has 27% of production. Paraná produced 19.8 million tons in 2020, and Rio Grande do Sul produced 19.3 million tons. In 2019, Santa Catarina harvested 2.3 million tons.
  Regarding sugarcane, Paraná was, in 2017, the fifth largest producer of cane, third of sugar and fifth of alcohol in the country. It harvested about 46 million tons of cane this year. The state's sugar and alcohol sector has 25 plants and employs around 55,000 people. The regions of Umuarama, Paranavaí, Maringá and Jacarezinho concentrate production. Brazil is the largest world producer, with 672.8 million tons harvested in 2018.
  In cassava production, Brazil produced a total of 17.6 million tons in 2018. Paraná was the 2nd largest producer in the country, with 3.2 million tons. Rio Grande do Sul was 4th, with almost 1 million tons. Santa Catarina produced 351 thousand tons.
  About orange, Paraná was the 3rd largest producer in Brazil in 2018, with a total of 834 thousand tons. Rio Grande do Sul was 5th, with 367 thousand tons. Santa Catarina had a small production. 
  The South Region is the largest producer of barley in Brazil. In the 1990s, the state of Rio Grande do Sul was the largest producer (66.8% of the country's total production), however, in the following decade Paraná started to occupy this position (49.8% of production). In the 2007-2011 period, 55.0% of the cultivation area was concentrated in Paraná (62.6% of production), 42.4% in Rio Grande do Sul (34.9% of production) and 2.6% in Santa Catarina (2.5% of production). The state of Paraná harvested 219.2 thousand tons in 2019, 60% of the national production. In addition to the cooler climate required by barley, the advantage of producers in Paraná is the proximity to the largest malting plant in Latin America, as the barley is grown on a commercial scale exclusively for use in the manufacture of malt, the main raw material of the beer industry. However, Brazil is far from being self-sufficient in the production of barley. The Brazilian market consumes, on average, 1.5 million tons per year. Brazil produces 335 thousand tons, close to 22%. Most, 73%, come from Argentina and Uruguay.
  Rio Grande do Sul is also the largest national producer of wheat, another crop that requires cold climates, with 2.3 million tons in 2019. Paraná is the 2nd largest producer, with a production almost identical to Rio Grande do Sul. In 2019, the 2 states harvested together about 85% of Brazil's harvest, but even so, the country is one of the largest global importers of cereal, having imported about 7 million tons this year, to me
caption: Apple trees in Santa Catarina
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