Today was our first day in Brazil. We certainly made the most of our time.

 
I have been thoroughly impressed with what I’ve seen. Our day started at 7 this morning with a briefing from Rita Mesquita, from the Amazonas Department of Environment and Sustainable Development. She spoke to us about the devastating effects deforestation and land robbing are having on the Amazon region.

We then went to the Brazilian Amazon Research Institute. Some of the best researchers in the world are looking at how to protect the various species in the rainforest, including the fresh-water manatee. They also explained to us the importance and necessity of protecting the Amazon environment as agriculture continues to move into the region.

At our next visit we toured a Cargill loading terminal on the Amazon. This is a very impressive operation. Brazil’s soybean crop has expanded from 15 million tons in 1990 to 60 million tons today. It’s because of this boom and the expansion of soybean crops throughout Brazil that has made the Cargill facility so important to the region.

Our last stops of the day included a visit to Henry Ford’s Rubber Tree Plantation on our way to a large 3000 acre soybean, corn, rice, millet, sorghum and sunseed farm. It was an unusual sight to see a rice field on one side of the road and a soybean field on the other side of the road with the Amazon rainforest as the backdrop.

Stay tuned. I hope to update you on our work again tomorrow.