Culture, which is experiencing a moment of optimism in the country, is gaining more and more prominence due to its liquidity and genetic advances.

When you look at the numbers, the growth in importance of the wheat crop in recent years is evident. From the 2021 harvest to date, according to data from the National Supply Company (Conab), Brazil should have a production around 22% higher, harvesting 9.3 million tons of the cereal. The number, together with the expansion of planting in more traditional regions, as well as in new areas, such as the Cerrado, not only represents another record harvest for the country, the second in a row, but is also an indication of the confidence that the crop has been having. for farmers during the winter period.

There are many reasons for this, going through all the links in the wheat chain, but it is in the liquidity of the culture that the producer finds the main reason for this security. The times when the farmer had difficulties to sell his production are increasingly distant in the rearview mirror. Looking ahead, new opportunities keep appearing, making the culture attractive and reliable.

With the aspect of the industrial quality of wheat starting to be considered one of the priorities of the genetic breeders, the cooperatives and cereal traders also aimed at improvements in the storage process of these grains.

In parallel with the concern with the specificities required by the final consumer, productivity and safety in the field were also treated as a priority, so that “the wheat could go to the field producing what interests the farmer, without suffering from the weather that can interfere with the quality that is there in the seed”.

There is also the animal protein industry signaling the demand for grains other than corn, due to the reduction in the production of this cereal in the colder regions of the country. And, in addition to other avenues, such as the biscuit and pasta industries, the wheat crop had the creation of a new market, that of ethanol, which has been signaling an important consumption for the near future”, he points out.

Consolidation of the quality of national wheat

If the 9.3 million tons of wheat predicted by Conab for this crop materialize, since 2017 Brazil will have more than doubled its production of the cereal. According wheat industry, the growing supply of grain is positive for the country. For the industry, the most important thing is that there is a supply of wheat at the most attractive prices possible, in a condition of isonomy of competitiveness. As a global commodity, national wheat will have to be competitive. This will define the commercialization route, whether internal or for export.

A booster for the animal protein industry

The need for food for the animal protein industry in the south of the country, especially in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, generates a high demand for corn. However, with the frustrations of the crop in recent harvests, added to the expansion of soybeans in these states, corn stocks have reduced considerably. This factor, in turn, has been giving space for growth to wheat, which can be replaced in good proportion in the diet of animals.

Fuel that comes from winter

In line with this need to expand the wheat area, a new market will emerge from 2024 onwards. This is the ethanol industry, which represents yet another opportunity in the crop. “It will guarantee the producer greater safety and tranquility in his winter crops, making the property profitable, rotating his fields and diluting his fixed costs”, attests the president of BSBIOS, Erasmo Batistella.

The company's project, which is the largest producer of biodiesel in the country, foresees the processing of more than 540 thousand tons of winter cereals per year, with the predominance of wheat, through cultivars with specific characteristics for this purpose, to supply this demand. Additionally, this process of transforming cereals into ethanol generates an important co-product, the distillers dry grains with solubles, or DDGS in the acronym in English. “This project foresees the production of 155 thousand tons per year of DDGS, which will be sold with factories of companies producing animal feed.

So, generally there are many positive facts in Brazilian wheat crop.

(source-summary of Mais Soja & Biotrigo article)