Thursday was our last full day in Piracicaba, São Paulo.  We woke up bright and early to take a tour of Raízen Group Sugar Mill, a Brazilian subsidiary of Shell and Cozan.  Our hostess, Fatima, gave us a warm welcome and was happy to answer any of our questions about Raízen and the sugarcane industry as a whole. We began our tour by watching a video that briefly explained the history of Raízen and also the scale of the sugarcane industry, including the processes sugarcane must undergo to become sugar, ethanol, or biodiesel. 

Raízen generates $50 billion in revenues and employs 40,000 people.  If Raízen was a country, it would be the 5th largest producer of ethanol in the world.  Harvesting of sugarcane by the company is 86% mechanized.  The remainder of the sugarcane is harvested manually because the terrain is not suitable for mechanized harvesting.  We were amazed to learn that the plant had been producing ethanol since the 1934 and is able to produce 1 million liters a day and could store 124 million liters in its storage tanks. 

After watching several video presentations we were taken into the cane fields to see where the entire process begins.  The sugarcane fields were massive and could be seen in every direction.  We estimate that each stalk of sugarcane in this region grows to approximately 12 feet.  We were fortunate to be able to observe the harvest in action.  The harvesting process of sugar cane requires two machines at any given time - a mechanized harvester and a truck with a hopper to load and transport the cane.  Trucks return to the harvester on a rotating basis and are able to harvest the cane 24 hours a day.  The only time that harvest is delayed is when it rains, which dilutes that sugar content of the harvested cane.  The cane is harvested from April through December.  In the fields we were able to taste the raw sugar cane.  One of the workers told us that Piracicaba was home to the sweetest sugar cane in Brazil. 

After seeing the sugarcane fields on the outskirts of Piracicaba, we returned to the Raízen's production facility to take a bus tour of the operation.  The process begins with big trucks carrying the harvested cane from the fields to conveyor belts at the facility.  The cane is soaked in water and crushed to extract its juice. The juice then goes through a neutralization process to extract impurities.  The juice is then placed in "continuous flow" fermentation tanks.  This fermented juice is placed into massive distillation tanks.  This juice consists of two products: vinace and ethanol which are distilled in a single tank and have different boiling points.  The fibrous material that is leftover from the crushing of the cane is known as bagasse.  Bagasse is very fascinating because it is used to power the entire facility.  Raízen burns the bagasse in boilers and is able to sell surplus energy back to the energy grids.  Raízen can choose to produce either sugar or ethanol products based on market demand factors.

Our next stop was ESALQ (University of Sao Paulo) School of Agriculture to hear some lectures from the faculty, but not before our bus driver stalled the engine of the bus while tying to get up a hill in the middle of an intersection. We quickly got the bus going again and went on our way to learn about CEPEA (Center for Advanced Studies on Applied Economics).  CEPEA disseminates market information of various agricultural products such as grains, meats, dairy products, sugar, ethanol, oranges, coffee, wood, and a variety of other fruits and vegetables covered subjects such as general agribusiness of the region, the production of soybeans, and the production of cattle.  Our first presenter was Silvia Miranda who gave an overview of CEPEA and how it operates in producing agricultural market information.  Our second presenter was Mauro Osaki who shared with us his knowledge of the soybean supply chain and market in Brazil.  He explained that although Brazil has lower fixed costs than the United States, such as cheaper land prices, the variable costs were much higher, such as the cost of fertilizer and labor.  Finally, Gabriela Ribeiro spoke with us about the production costs of cattle and explained that it costs approximately US $100 per 100 kg of finishing weight to produce a head of cattle in this region.  We left this presentation much more informed about the particularities of agricultural commodities in Brazil.

After these lectures we moved to the main building of the University to the Ceres room to be greeted by the Dean of ESALQ, Professor Jose Caixeta.  We felt honored to be receiving such a warm welcome from the faculty here.  We then listened to Jamie Finguerut from CTC (Copersucar Technology Center) who gave a lecture about the evolution and technological development of the Brazilian sugarcane industry.  He explained that production efficiency grew rapidly following the liberalization of the market following the end of the military dictatorship in Brazil.  Once quotas for production and market controls were lifted, the industry began to utilize hybrid technologies to create more viable sugarcane production systems.  The result of these changes allowed for the creation of more dynamic and efficient sugar cane crops to be cultivated in Brazil. 

We then had the opportunity to listen to Jarbas Miranda who spoke about his research with nitrate levels and how they change or "walk" through the soils. The focus was on lowering the nitrate levels in Illinois lowlands. He also talked about drainage systems, specifically one called DRAINMOD.  He told us about his experience working with Dr. Cook at the University of Illinois at South Farms and how he was implementing similar research here in Brazil. 

After leaving ESALQ we went to a local butchery, Emilio Zilio Butchery, in Piracicaba to see what traditional meat vendors were like.  The owner, Felipe, showed us the variety of cuts and offerings his store had - everything you could imagine: tongues, livers, hearts, and the hump of the Nellore breed cattle and all of the typical cuts you would expect to find at a butcher shop here in the United States.  One challenge for us was translating the names of the cuts in Portuguese to their English equivalents.  We were received very graciously by Felipe and his employees.

We then traveled to a famous street in Piracaba, Rua do Portato, to try the local seafood.  It felt nice to rest and converse with our group after a long day of touring and learning.  IBIP has given us the opportunity to come face to face with many of the subjects that we study at the University.  For many of us, the size and significance of these agricultural industries is becoming fully apparent.  We are looking forward to other new and exciting experiences in the days to come.

*We apologize for the inconvenience, but due to low internet bandwidth, we are unable to upload photos at this time.  We will update in a few days!  Be sure to check out our Flickr account.