Feeding the World
Brazil's Transformation into a Modern Agricultural Economy

Feeding the World documents the emergence of Brazil as an agricultural powerhouse during the second half of the twentieth century.

Herbert S. Klein (Author), Francisco Vidal Luna (Author)

9781108473095, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 December 2018

468 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 3 cm, 0.76 kg

'Not only do Klein and Luna chart Brazil's stunning emergence as an agricultural giant with global reach, they also explain how it happened. Richly detailed, and drawing from an extraordinary array of data, the book blends aggregate analyses and enlightening case studies to uncover the factors accounting for sustained advance in agriculture and agri-business in Brazil s southern and western regions. Klein and Luna provide the definitive study of Brazil's dramatic agricultural modernization over the last sixty years.' William R. Summerhill, University of California, Los Angeles

Feeding the World chronicles the rise of Brazil as a world agricultural powerhouse during the second half of the twentieth century. Tracing the history of Brazilian agricultural development, Herbert S. Klein and Francisco Vidal Luna focus specifically on how Brazil came to be the largest net food exporter in the world. Brazil was always an agricultural export country, but it was traditionally an exporter of a single crop. However, the country's agriculture underwent significant changes after 1960. Since then, Brazil has become one of the top five world producers of some 36 agricultural products and is now the world's primary exporter of such agricultural goods as orange juice, sugar, meat, corn, and soybeans. Drawing heavily on historical and economic social science research, this book not only details how Brazil became an international leader in commercial agriculture, but offers careful insight into one of the most important developments in modern world history.

List of maps
List of graphs
List of tables
Introduction
1. Antecedents
2. The new agricultural economy post 1960
3. Causes for the modernization of Brazilian agriculture
4. Productivity, technology, and sustainability
5. Regional pattern of agriculture
6. The case of Mato Grosso
7. Rio Grande do Sul
8. São Paulo
9. The Agrarian question
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX], Economic history [KCZ], History of the Americas [HBJK], General & world history [HBG]