Brazilian farmers forced to mechanise

After a torrid couple of years that have been plagued by volatile weather patterns and fluctuating prices, it appears that many of the smaller members found within the Brazilian coffee industry are relying on modern machinery as they cannot afford traditional labour costs in such a tumultuous market.

There has been an “intense trade in machinery,” reports Brazil’s supply agency Conab, especially within the main coffee growing areas in the states of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais.

An article, published by Reuters, suggests that wages have almost doubled in the past twelve months and that smaller farmers who have been impacted the most over the recent years are investing in modernisation.

“You used to buy machinery to try and improve margins – now you do it to survive,” said Michael Reguim, who has purchased imported machinery thanks to government given grants.

“I’ll be happy with 2,000 [bags of coffee],” he told the American news agency. “If I hadn’t mechanised, I would not [have] survived.”

In Minas Gerais around fifty percent of all coffee harvesting is now automated, a rise of a fifth when compared to figures from five years ago.

It is the same story elsewhere in the country too.

Some people predict that over two-thirds of all field work within the agricultural sector will be automatically done next year, and that’s because some mountainous plantations are totally inaccessible in terms of transporting large agrarian equipment.

Profits are still being squeezed however and despite the margins have increased alongside the adoption of automated technologies, risks still remain.

“Even with mechanisation costs are very high,” explains the economist Luiz de Castro Junior.

“Anyone who isn’t mechanised is not able to make ends meet.”

Prices may be rising, but with smaller harvests profits are still very thin.

photo: Kris Krug (Flickr), used under CC .20