The Next Big Kid On The Block

Are potholes the only thing standing in the way of Brazil becoming a major world trading power in cotton? Texas cotton producer and National Cotton Council Vice Chairman Woody Anderson thinks so. Once the nation manages to fill in the canyon-sized potholes in its farm-to-market roads, it stands to become a huge player, he believes.

It’s already halfway there, having mastered cotton production by adopting the American model, Anderson said. All it lacks now are infrastructural improvements. And forget lingering images of subsistence farming. There is no small cotton industry in Brazil – not, at least, in the state of Mato Grasso where Anderson toured recently. There are only about 200 cotton farmers in Mato Grasso yet they account for 2 million bales of cotton production.

Anderson believes Brazil also has tremendous potential to increase its farming area to grow cotton. During his tour, he spoke with one mill executive who said there is a potential to expand crop production by 200 million acres. By comparison, America's soybean, corn and wheat acreage totals 210 million acres.

Anderson discussed his Brazilian encounter with other cotton producers at the Belt Wide Cotton Conference, held recently in San Antonio

Posted by Jim Langcuster at February 13, 2004 08:23 AM