117 We have an opportunity to double the size of Brazilian agribusiness in 13 years to reach $ 1 trillion in revenue. There are needs in fertilizers, bio-inputs, seeds, digital technology, robotics, and mechanization. In other words, growth in the industrial, commercial, and service areas. On farms, there are 40 million hectares of degraded pasture areas to be transformed into sustainable, modern, integrated crop-livestock-forest systems, making intensive use of technology to increase productivity. The cooperative system will develop into areas in need of corrections in terms of human and social dignity, supporting the development of about four million small farms and settlements as yet deprived of science and markets. Biogas produced from agriculture, dairy and beef farming, and supermarkets, to name a few, will generate bioelectricity, biofertilizers, and biomethane, increasing revenue from carbon credits. Outside the farm gates, Brazil’s food and beverage industry, the world’s second-largest exporter by volume, will add value in sourcing, boosting revenue, and generating new business in energy and food segments, as well as specialties in fashion, agriculture, and aesthetics. Opportunities also exist for small and medium-sized agro-industries connected to cooperativism. And all this will need modern road transport implements adapted to a variety of specific demands. So, looking at Brazil’s potential in agribusiness and the opportunities in global markets and in Brazil itself, with the country’s six biomes, it is not too much of a stretch to forecast $ 1 trillion in turnover in a system that is today worth $ 20 trillion worldwide. Now, will we manage it? It depends on the structuring of strategic planning by the government. It will also require the convergence of private and public initiatives. There is a need for logistics, storage, irrigation, telecommunications, and satellite infrastructure, and subsidized investments to face risks, including climate change. Safe, integrated models of road, rail, river, and cabotage transport are needed. And let us not forget agro-environmental and gastronomic tourism. Success over these 13 years will depend on management, planning, marketing, and advertising. We have science, technology, human resources, entrepreneurship, and cooperativism. Bringing together these components for prosperity and having an impact on Brazil’s GDP, positioning the country as vital to the agro-environmental health of the earth, from the tropic of Cancer to Capricorn, is the challenge and the opportunity. The risk lies, then, in not having leaders united in this orchestration. It is time for Brazil’ agribusiness to sing from the same song sheet. RenovaBio’s role in the fuel of the future and agricultural, industrial, commercial, and service orchestration can inspire the rest of the production chains. We can do it. It is up to us. Brazil can change the world for the better! “The optimist is a fool, the pessimist a bore. I am a hopeful realist,” as the writer Ariano Suassuna said. I am with him. In my 85th year, 13 years from now, I will be celebrating this vision with a bottle of the most delicious sparkling wine in the world, a “terroir Brazil,” with the road transport implement industry undoubtedly behind all this. Planning required to double agribusiness Joint, coordinated efforts are also called for by public and private initiative on several fronts By José Luiz Tejon Megido, journalist, lecturer, and authority in agribusiness, marketing, sales, leadership, and personal improvement. He has written or co-written 37 books, including bestsellers such as, “Warriors Are Not Born Ready,” and “The Power of Discomfort.”
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