Observations from Bill Raben of Ridgway, Ill.
Today we got a taste of agriculture outside of traditional soybean production at the Curitiba Municipal Market. We heard a presentation about organic production and also visited the Curitiba Botanic Garden. At the market, they had more types of products and food than we have in Illinois. I noticed that there was not much price difference between organic and regular vegetables.
What I found most interesting is the availability and demand for organic products and also the sector of the population that actually prefers organic products. I think this will probably be a growth sector for people in our economy. Like in the United States, those people that picked up the organic produce were better educated and higher salaried. Basically, what I think it boils down to is that if they prefer it for health reasons and can afford it, they will buy it.
After visiting the market, we heard a presentation about cooperatives in Parana state during a visit to OCEPAR, the Paraná State Cooperative System. In Illinois, I serve on a cooperative board and they are basically the same where I live and in Brazil. The only difference I saw here with the cooperatives is they are pretty well focused on the smaller farmers. I don’t think they are involved with the exceptionally large farms. The large farms have their own consultants, their own agronomists and their own managers. It does give those smaller farmers an opportunity to consolidate all their needs through the co-op cheaper than they could if they tried to do it individually.
I came here with the idea that these farmers are large, and I mean exceptionally large, and that is not exactly true. There are a lot of large farms, and those are the ones you hear about, but there are smaller farms, too. From 50-hectare (123-acre) farmers to 100,000-hectare (247,000-acre) farmers, we all have the same problems and concerns. Ultimately, it comes down to we hope we can make a profit at the end the year. And we do whatever we need to do by using sound farming and business practices that will benefit us. We are the true environmentalists. We live in that environment every day, so we don’t want to do anything that would harm it because we live there with our families.
The trip has been a good experience and it’s been hectic, but I’ve really enjoyed it and found it worthwhile.
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