Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
There is no more usable farmland in the US. Every inch is being used. That's why lots of farmers are going to Brazil to buy cheap land and grow now very profittable crops like sugar cane for bio-fuel.
|
Hmmm, yes and no. Utilization of current farmland is near 100%, however there are large tracks of former farmland, that have gone feral under government wildlife conservation programs. The farmers are paid $50 per acre not to plant, and allow the land to return to it's natural wild state. However with newer high food prices many farmers are wanting to pull out of these programs. At the current food prices, they can earn over $150 per acre planting wheat or other staple crops.
The main driving force for the land grab in Brazil and Argentinia is economics. Farmers who wish to expand production into previously underutiliesed land, find it much much cheaper to produce in there. Land and labor cost are lower by a factor of 10 or more in those areas.
There is also the problem of farmland conversion in land near metropolitain areas. Even with higher food prices, it is often the case that the land is worth more to urban developers, than it would ever be worth as farmland. So many farmers sell out, and buy land in South America.
Also it has socially become compleatly unexceptable in North America to expand into land that is still in a natural state.