Riding herd on soybeans in Brazil

Soybean farmers in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul have a reputation for being a bunch of cowboys.

Since the late 1990s, the Brazilian government has been waging war in that key producing state, first against genetically modified soybeans in general and now against uncertified seed.

The goal was to keep a track open to transgenic-sensitive markets in Europe. But Rio Grande do Sul was a weak spot. The state is pressed up against the border with Argentina, where transgenic seed sales were unfettered, and Brazilian growers quickly realized that transgenic soybeans were cheaper to produce.

In 2003, the federal government finally caved in to pressure and repealed a federal law prohibiting planting of transgenic beans. But transgenic growers were supposed to register their crops and there were substantial fines for failing to do so. Non-government agencies were in the act, tying up government laws in court cases, and the tests to prove that a sample of a crop was either transgenic or conventional were prohibitively expensive.

Growers claimed that they could tell which fields were transgenic because they were weed-free and conventionally grown fields were not. Sales of uncertified seed blossomed and spread elsewhere into other producing states.

At one point, the Brazilian government tried to clamp down on uncertified transgenic seed trade on the border between Rio Grande do Sul and the rest of Brazil. Before the 2006 planting season began, the government was offering to swap certified for uncertified seed. The government was selling this program by claiming that farmers will get better yields with the certified seed.

This seemed to work- a little too well. Uptake of the program was overwhelming and not enough seed was available. Only two thirds of farmers were able to participate in the seed exchange, and the government is having to back down on its plans to deny illegal seed sowers low-interest government loans. BF