Inside one of the machinery sheds of the largest soya farm in the world

Brazil is a big country and this machinery shed on the largest soya farm in the world best illustrates scale out here. Brazil is the largest sugar cane producer and the second largest beef and soya producer in the world.

The shed, which is almost 200ft wide with a 70ft span in the centre, is truly massive. And this is just one of the machinery sheds. For anyone with a love of machinery, this shed resembles that of a machinery dealer rather than a farmer. Not only do they have 400 combines, but they have as many tractors and 6,600 lines of planters.

The largest planter has about 49 lines (22m wide in total), so they have in excess of 150 planters due to various sizes. The combines have heads that range in width from 30ft to 40ft.

Brazil produces 30% of the world’s soya and this area in Brazil – Mato Grosso – produces 10% of the world’s soya. The farm itself produces almost 0.5%, so it is fair to say what happens on this farm can have a significant impact on world soya.

The farm is owned by Bom Futuro Group, a family-owned business set up in 1989 from scratch and I spent a day there this week to learn about the business.

Along with growing soya and cotton, it also grows maize corn. However, the main crop is soya. 650,000 acres are farmed, with 50% of it this owned and 50% leased on long-term leases. It grows 1.1m acres of crops on all this land and this is achieved by growing two crops per year on most of the land. This is a tropical area in the very centre of Brazil.

Land is not cheap in this area because of its quality and ranges from €4,000 to €5,000/acre depending on the yield potential and if it can grow two crops.

Keep an eye online for more updates on this farm and other stories from Brazil.