Goiás Agribusiness: The Cerrado's Agricultural Transformation
Goiás is the heart of Brazil's agricultural revolution — the cerrado soil transformed from acidic savanna into the world's most productive soybean, beef, and sugarcane land through science and capital
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Cerrado Agricultural Transformation
Embrapa (Brazil's agricultural research agency) developed cerrado farming techniques from the 1970s — neutralizing acidic soils with lime and developing tropical soybean varieties that made Brazil the world's largest exporter
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Goiá's beef industry
The state of Goiás has more cattle than people — the cerrado pastures support a beef industry that exports to Asia, Europe and the Middle East; the quality of Goiá's beef is recognized internationally
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Sugar cane and ethanol
The Cerrado in western Goiás is covered with sugar cane for ethanol production — Brazil's flex-fuel vehicles run on sugar cane ethanol and Goiá's sugar industry is central to the country's energy independence
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Anápolis industrial pole
The city of Anápolis — 50 km from Goiânia — is Brazil's pharmaceutical manufacturing center; the industrial pole (DAIA) concentrated pharmaceutical production creates a different economic geography than agribusiness
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Soy Export Infrastructure
The grain roads and railways connecting Goiá's soy fields with the port of Santos and the new Ferrogrão railway are essential infrastructure — the logistics of moving Brazilian agricultural exports shape the cerrado landscape
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Land Conflict and Indigenous Territory
The Cerrado's agricultural expansion has come at the expense of indigenous territories and small farming communities – the land conflicts in Goiás and neighboring states document the social costs of the agricultural revolution