Small Town Brazil

January 30, 2019

Today we began in the ITY Hotel in Cristalina, Brazil. We headed to a local farm to spend the day visiting many parts of their operation. The Fazenda Figueiredo Farm has over 20,000 hectares, which is around 43,000 acres. They plant corn, soybeans, oats, edible beans, coffee, and silage. Along with grains and coffee they also raise dairy cows. We started the morning on their dairy operation which has around 1,000 milking cows and 2,300 total Holstein dairy cows; which produces around 9,200 gallons of milk per day. Their dairy has received many awards- including the “Best Dairy Farm in Brazil” for 2018. At their dairy farm they have a pilot program of solar panels, which are floating in their water retention pond. Having these solar panels off-sets their electricity usage by a large amount and they are looking to be completely sustainable in the coming years. We were also able to see them chopping silage, hauling, and packing into the bunkers. This silage is then incorporated into a total mixed ration of feed for the dairy cows.

After visiting the dairy we had lunch at the ITY Restaurant, which is next to our ITY Hotel for a quality Brazilian lunch hour(s). Following lunch we visited another location of their farm to see coffee processing. After coffee is harvested it is spread out on large places of pavement to dry in the sun and then it is shelled to get the beans out. We were able to see coffee in all stages of this processing. We were also able to see a coffee harvester, which uses vibrating bristles to “pick” the coffee. The farmer also started the harvester and demonstrated how it runs, which was neat to see. Also we were able to get up close to the coffee trees and pick some green beans.

Following the coffee processing we headed to the fields to see some soybean harvesting. They were running 3 Case IH combines to harvest a soybean field. Although many of us have seen combines and soybeans this was unique because surrounding the harvested field were soybean fields that were still dark green and weeks from being harvested. The climate of Brazil allows for planting and harvesting times to vary throughout all of the regions.

We then headed to see some corn planting. Here they were using a John Deere 8230 and a 2122 planter in a field that also has a center pivot irrigation system. We were able to get up close and look at the seed depth, fertilizer, and type of seed.

Also, what is unique about this farm is that they have housing on each of their 7 farms to allow for workers to have ease in their commute. For those workers in the city they have busses to transport workers each day. This is a great benefit of working for Fazenda Figueiredo Farms.

To end the day we had dinner at the ITY Restaurant, which is named well for this ity bity town.