I was in the field yesterday and this passed... What I hear the most from wheat growers in southern Brazil is that they hate the mills. They believe this quality talk is unfair and they always push the prices down. In the case of some regions, wheat has been changed for canola in some cases. Canola is paid based on the soybean price and used on biodiesel plants in Rio Grande do Sul and usually the grain is sold immediately. This has been seen mostly in Lagoa Vermelha, northeast of that state. This is also seen in the Northwest, the most traditional grain region of Rio Grande do Sul, but in that case it has not been very sustainable. Canola is very sensitive to losses and that scares farmers. In the case of Lagoa Vermelha, there is an agronomist who pushes the canola planting and imports the inputs reselling for farmers. The majority of the inputs to plant the grain are not manufactured in Brazil. A lot of farmers still hold surpluses of wheat from the last crop. The cost to grow canola is half the cost to grow wheat in Rio Grande do Sul.
Here there are photos from Lagoa Vermelha and Não-Me-Toque:
