Terra para Quê ?

Continuam lá. Até quando essas famílias ficarão respirando poeira e se iludindo com "um pedaço de terra" quanto tempo é necessário para que os "idealizadores" dessa contraproducente ação resolvam falar a verdade ? A de que esse não é o caminho ?

texto anterior abaixo.

de outubro de 2013

Moro em Ribeirão Preto, outrora capital do Café, depois da Cerveja, depois da Cana e agora pretende se firmar como capital do Agronegócio.
Praticamente cercada por canaviais, a maior cidade de uma região do tamanho da Holanda, um município relativamente pequeno, em que mais de 50% de sua área é urbana, vivemos em uma ilha de prosperidade, devido à posição geográfica estratégica, universidades aqui instaladas, prestadores de serviço e comércio dos mais variados possíveis, que por acaso está instalada sobre um latossolo vermelho conhecido por terra roxa, onde em se plantando tudo dá.
Cerca de 40 dias atrás uma das terras da Usina Nova União, em Serrana, 30 km daqui foi novamente  invadida pelo Movimento Sem Terra para reivindicar aquelas terras para a reforma agrária, sendo essa a oitava tentativa após sete retomadas de posse. Somam-se ali mais de 300 famílias instaladas em barracos de lona, tendo a entrada da Usina bloqueada por uma barreira de pneus e paus.
Pretendem os invasores reverter a dívida do proprietário, e dos arrendatários, com o erário Paulista em terra para produção de alimentos, retirando dali uma atividade canavieira para a instalação da Agro-Floresta, que muito beneficiaria o meio ambiente, aplicando espécies vegetais como banana, abóboras, mandioca, milho, alem de reflorestar a área tomada hoje pelo canavial.
Algumas perguntas, entretanto, estão sem resposta.
1) Há plano de negócios para as novas atividades agrícolas ?
2) As pessoas envolvidas têm experiência em produção rural ?
3) Haverá treinamento para capacitação e mecanização ou uso de tecnologias?
4) As políticas de financiamento da agricultura familiar financiarão a empreitada ?
5) Qual o tamanho da área que caberá a cada família ?
Essas perguntas básicas tem por finalidade saber se essas famílias encontrarão o sonho da prosperidade hoje alimentado pela esperança ou o pesadelo da miséria , uma vez ali instaladas.
Produzir é tão importante como comercializar a produção, auferir lucro e remunerar a atividade, afinal o trabalho deve ser remunerado, dessa vez como proprietários e empreendedores.
Políticos se comprometem, quando defendem a reforma agrária, e também quando defendem a manutenção do estado de direito, enquanto isso,  essas famílias sonham e persistem.

His Holiness Pope Francesco

It is not easy not to get touched by this Argentinean Jesuit, who was chosen to be the leader of the Catholic Church.

He seems to be the answer for over a billion humans eager for love and justice.

He speaks to the hearts, has a good sense of humor and understands the value of things and people.

This past week he talked to pilgrims, to the cleric, to politicians. He spoke to the youth. Criticized (and condemned) drug dealers, embraced drug users.

Indeed a true Christian.

We will pray for you and hope this chain of good vibes transcend the chapels, the cathedrals and hit His Holiness’ heart as well as ours.

Have a good trip Chico.

Sleeping with the Enemy

 

The recent history of Brazil will take another few decades to be understood.

Paulo Jabur's Picture of intelectuals talking to political prisioners in the mid 60's may be the seed of what was named Democracy. Militarys deposed arms and "gave back" the government to "elected" people.

Oscar Niemeyer famous architect of Brasilia, Darcy Ribeiro, famous writer and sociologist, Antônio Houais, linguistic... all of them had an idea of what a new order , a new country was going to be.

A new party was going to be formed MDB, Brazilian Democratic Movement, lounched its party.

Soon, fellowmen from the Comunist Party and others joinned and all they wanted was democracy.

Mr. José Sarney was took the presidency after his President Mr. Tancredo Neves died after elections and as vice-presidente, Sarney helped to structure his party PMDB.

Great names were once part of it and helped making it the biggest Political Party in Brazil, but they left to create their own parties such as PSDB and PT.

What was left of it was big enough to have structures, ministeries, positions in the government that makes them have today the Presidency of the Senate, the presidency of Congress and the vice-presidency of the country.

Not easy fot PT, nor for any other party.

Their roots are to deep into the system, in some cases persons and the party are so close together that they become one not very nice smelling mass.

Renan Calheiros, presidente of the Senate, for instance has been envolved in so many scandals that they were known as Renangates (4 big scandals), but he is still there.

José Sarney, after being presindet of Brazil, changed his State to be elected Senator and has also been presidente of the Senate, with lots of "secret acts"

There are many other names, like Orestes Quércia, (dead) and Antônio Fleury who made fortunes after being Governor of Stete of São Paulo, who should not have the rights of being elected again, but if they are still alive, they keep running and winning. Too bad, not too late.

Green Revolution

In the 1940's a Brazilian farmer produced food for 19 people, in the 70's for 73 people and at present 155 eat what one farmer produces.

Nos anos 40 um fazendeiro brasileiro produzia comida para 19 pessoas, nos anos 70 para 73 e hoje 155 pessoas comem o que produz um fazendeiro.

In 1980 Brazil imported beef from Chernobyl (can you believe that ?). In the last 15 years the exports of beef increased 731% and the pastures decreased 2%.

Em 1980 o Brasil chegou a importar carne de Chernobyl (dá para acreditar ?). Nos últimos 15 anos as exportações de carne aumentaram 731%, enquanto as pastagens diminuiram 2%.

Numbers are good enough but we must go into some history as well.
We must go back to Norman Borlaug, Nobel Prize of Peace, born in a Minessota, USA. This revolutionary man brought to the World hibryd seeds, resistent to fungs and so on. He used to say that "Brazil will have a great role in world hanger fight". Seems to prophetized well.

Números em si já são bons o suficiente, mas devemos entrar também na história.
Voltemos ao Norman Borlaug, Prêmio Nobel da Paz, nascido em Minessota, EUA. Esse homem revolucionário trouxe ao mundo sementes híbridas, resistentes a fungos e tal. Ele costumava dizer que "O Brasil terá um importante papel no combate à fome mundial". Parece ter profetizado corretamente.

Brazil went form a hill-bilies country into a great nation of Food Producers, due to the use of several technologies, from better seeeds and fertilizers to mechanical engeneering and animal genetics.

O Brasil foi de um país de jecas para uma grande nação de produtores de alimentos, devido ao uso de muitas tecnologias, de melhores sementes e fertilizantes à engenharia mecânica e genética animal.

Fernando Penteado Cardoso

 

Once I met Mr. Cardoso and this 94y.o. Professor gave me lectures of how one must select, from seeds to cattle, inspired on his friend, the best ever animal scientist Jan C. Bonsma (South African). Mr. Cardoso, or Dr. Fernando as he is known in Brazil was one of the first in the country to use fertilizers, at the time he began with ashes. He says, "you make no use of good genetics you you don't feed them properly"

 

Uma vez encontrei-me com o Dr. Fernando, e esse professor de 94 anos, me deu algumas palestras sobre  como se deve selecionar, desde sementes até gado, inspirado em seu amigo, o melhor Zootecnista que o mundo conheceu Jan C. Bonsma (Sul Africano). Sr. Cardoso, ou Dr. Fernando como é conhecido no Brasil, foi um dos primeiros. Diz ele, "você não faz uso de genética se não der a ela o cuidado necessário"

 

In short, agriculture is what keeps mankind in this planet and great men are born once in a while to revolutionize it.

 

Em resumo, agricultura é o que mantem a humanidade nesse planeta e grandes homens nascem de vez em quando para revolucioná-la.

 



 

Would you like a cup ?

If you drank coffe today, or during the week, some time, thank a countryman.
Here in Brazil we produce lots of coffee, but also all sorts of food from the several thousands of farms throughout the country.
Simple people, farmers, sun burned rural faces..., all together to make Brazil one of the largest suppliers of food to the World.

Se você bebeu café hoje, ou durante a semana, alguma vez, agradeça ao homem do campo.
Aqui no Brasil nós produzimos muito café, mas tam´bém todo tipo de comida a partir de muitos milhares de fazendas espalhadas pelo País.
pessoas simples, fazendeiros, rostos rurais queimados pelo sol..., todos juntos para fazer o Brasil um dos maiores produtores  de comida para o Mundo.

5 min. video

 

Milk and Tits

Gir Cow (Zebu)

No matter how urban a society is, one can not produce artificial milk.
It comes from Tits, Cows, Buffaloes, Goats, Camels and Mares are the mais producers of milk and  so dairy comes along.
Milk price is reaching high levels in Brazil, normally at this time of the year, cows are still lactating well, so the amount of litres are ok, so what is going on ?
People may say inflation, others, business oportunities, but I recon it is the other side of the world that is pending.
Australia and New Zeland are two great producers in the Southern Pacific area, Canada and the US in the Northern Pacific area, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay in the  Southern Atlantic area. All of us mentioned are consumers and some are exporters.
Then comes CHINA, the average of milk consumption over there as very insignificant "per capta", but now, it is growing

Lots of factors, but mainlly "western advertisement" is changing the feeding habits of the Chinese, the demand is growing so fast that the local government has many projects to increase local production.
Meanwhile, they buy it overseas. Australia and New Zeland are the top suppliers and when they don't have enough, China buys it from Argentina and Uruguay, our neighbours.
As a result of it we get higher prices at the shelf.
Cheers.

Fusão de Partidos, Cachimbos e Ocas ?

Criação de novos partidos são de toda forma uma "proposta diferente" a tudo que existe, e nós acabamos recebendo mais um da mesma coisa, com um(a) novo(a) cacique.
Agora, quando as tribos começam a dimimuir
, justamente por excesso de caciques, então eles fumam um cachimbo da paz e se juntam, para amealhar a indiada restante.
Assim, Roberto Freire, oferece algumas ocas de seu partido a partidos menores como o PMN, e acende a fogueira da madrugada para receber mais dissidentes do já quase morto DEM, e por incrível que pareça dos pula-pulas do PSD (novinho em folha).
Partido que outrora se mirava nas águas do comunismo, o PPS agora recebe a rapa do liberalismo, tudo para atender a turma do Tucano Sentado, correndo por fora para derrubar a turma do Sapo que Fala.
Nesse zigue-zague eleitoral, nos resta a raíz, o futuro e a sustentabilidade de um partido que incomoda justamente por ser uno, com bravos caras pintadas que defendem 43 princípios sendo a mãe de todos, a Sustentabilidade.
No ideário inabalável das liberdades humanas, segue o PV com força, com futuro e esperança de que a Educação e suas verbas cheguem realmente ao cerne da sociedade, a Juventude, e que as lições do outro Freire, o Paulo provoque o raciocínio em detrimento da alienação.

 

A New Face for Latin America's Policy

 Mr. Fernando Gabeira

 

It was last night I met Mr. Gabeira for the first time.

 

Born in  1941, this Brazilian politician, author and journalist, is best known for taking part of the kidnapping of the American Ambassador Charles Elbrick, back in 1969, starting his political views as socialist.

 

At a certain time socialism stopped giving the answers and Gabeira ahead of his time founded with many other "hippie-guys" the Green Party of Brazil. He left the Group in 2002 believing that Lula da Silva was the answers to his hunger for a better country.

 

Again Gabeira had to move back and returnet to PV (Green Party) and he is now our hope to help Brazil have a sustainable agenda.

 

His speach last night gave us supporters a new hope, and a certain of change. topics like"Internet Rovolution", "Gay Marriage", "Solar and wind Power Energy", "Responsible Consumption" is not a fancy talk. It really is what he searched in a lifetime.

 

As an eco-man, he is also ready to talk to farmers and large scale food producers, cooperatives, small family agriculture and multinationals agribusiness companies that are operating in Brazil.

 

So Brazil created through the last 5 decades a socialist economy model. Mr Gabeira proposes something new, different from a China-Brics-Economy. He believes we can fix things and use them again, he thinks Brazil can lead Latin America into a new era, when we can add value to our forests, to our tourism, to our water and all low carbon impact economy and policies. So do I.

 

 PV convention in 13th of April, 2013.

 

 





O Leite Nosso de Cada Dia

Vaca Girolanda - 32kg/dia

 

A lot of people don't know but most of the milk drank in Brazil is from Girolanda Cows, that are crossbreeds of Gir Cows and Holstein bulls, (or vice versa) and as result beauties like that of the picture.

Muitos não sabem, mas a maior parte do leite consumido no Brasil é de vacas Girolandas, que são cruzamentos de vacas da Raça Gir, com Touros da raça Holstein (Holandês), o resultado, quando bem acasalado produz lindezas como essa da foto acima.

O leite é entretanto uma tarefa diária, sem férias, sem descanso. Não se pode deixar de ordenhar a vaca, sob riscos de perder sua fuñção leiteira por infecção intra mamária, já que o leite é um excelente meio de cultura.

Pouco é divulgado também sobre a quantidade de dinheiro que o leite irriga na economia, pois a vaca é uma constante via de ingestão de capital, seja por insumos agrícolas, minerais, ou farmacêuticos, fora toda a gama de prestadores de serviço que atendem às fazendas.

Leite, queijo, ricota, iogurtes, soro, e ainda no final a carne e o couro também tem como destino as mesas e armários dos brasileiros, não podemos então permitir que a atividade seja desprezada ou sub-valorizada.

Provavelmente é a atividade rural que mais segura o homem no campo resolvendo inúmeros problemas sociais que as cidades teriam, caso toda a população rural migrasse.

FALTAM ASSIM,  políticas públicas de remuneração ao produtor de leite, de fomento da atividade pós normativa 51, de apoio à formação de cooperativas, mesmo que pequenas e de compensação ambiental para a melhoria genética.

Como já escrito anteriormente sobre o gás metano proveniente da flatulência bovina, entendemos que o gás é antes de mais nada um desperdício de energia, que poderia ser transformada em mais leite e mais carne, caso os animais fossem geneticamente superiores à grande maioria do gado que existe hoje no Brasil.

Uma dose sexada de semen de um touro realmente melhorador, faria que o investimento se pagasse já na primeira lactação em várias formas, primeiro seria em mais leite , mais carne e por cima menos gás metano.

Podemos dizer que um rebanho de vacas produtivas transformam o mesmo capim em mais leite, mais carne e menos gás.

Dessa forma quem poderia pagar por esse serviço ambiental que os competentes tiradores de leite se propõe a prestar ao nosso planetinha azul ?

POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS JÁ E MENOS BLÁ, BLÁ, BLÁ.

The True Lady

Ms. Thatcher has gone. After her legacy of strong opinions, not many politicians dare to do the same.
Pleasing the people seem to be the order of the day.
A "good" politician can not support or atack drug use, or gay marriages, or anything that demands a strong opinion. That is disgusting !
I mean not taking part is not acceptable.
You may like or dislike one's ideas, but they are what he/she mulded as his/her character.
What really pisses me off is to attack just for attacking. Nonsense.
Ms. Thatcher has helped changing the world, for good or for bad, she did what she was supposed to do, according to her believes.
Here in Brazil, for instance, some 30 public banks were privitised, mining and steel companies too. Lots of people complainned, but due to that our economy is more flexible, the currency is ok and inflation is kind of controlled. No one can say it was a British imposition, but the pom's example seemed to be effective.
Could we say that Argentina was also benefitted ? After loosing the war (never desired) the military government fell down, after Her Magesty's troups won the war. One of the most cruel regimes was put behind. Wasn't it good ? (the rights for the Malvines I believe is still Argentinean, but that is another topic)
So I want to render my simpathy to all politicians who stand for a cause based on his/her principles.
I cannot say rest in peace, as for my principles Ms Thatcher is a kind of spirit that doens't rest. So, have a good break and come back soon and pelase, dance with me.

 

On the road again

Agriculture has definetelly got the colours of the Brazilian flag, indeed yellow, green, blue and white, and I would say white is the topic of the day. I am talking about Milk and the Dairy Industry.
Lots of "urbanoids" have no idea of what is produced in the fields of this gigantic country.
Ribeirão Preto is known as the agribusiness capital, but every day I see it is less and less true.
I spent a week in one of the Brazilian Dairy Basins (belts). The small towns economy is vibrant, milk is a wealth that pumps money in the vains of local, and national commerce and service related business.
From silage to feedlots, semen (genetics) to coops, every thing is related to Farm Producing Goods

Millions of litres of milk are tapped every day, and besides that, millions of Reais (brazilian currency) come across.
There is though a big gap between what is done in the rural areas and the city idea of what it really is. Brazilian city people blame on the farmers their frustrations regarding inflation, environmet, jobs, etc. What is clear is that agrobusiness is just as good as citybusiness.
When a city person proudly reads the news about some industry establishing their business in town, not only the mayor, but a bunch of people get happy, but if you say the farmer is doing well with his investments, his just is criticized for being a landlord of vast fields.

 

So, what we see is that people are loosing their roots in a growing demand for instant services, forgetting that nature has its own time, that farmers are sincronised with it and in town they are more and more (not) thinking like cattle. Today autumn beggins on Southern Hemisfere, and Spring on North.

It is a good time to re-think what is what. After all we don't behave like cattle, do we ?

 

 

Nature is linked together with agriculture  , computers, electrical and electronical devices are not.

Happy spring/autumn.





andrerodini@uol.com.br 

A Hipocrisia e seus filhos

Al Capone com Charles Chaplin.

 

Há uma frase do Al Capone, “When I sell liquor, its called bootlegging; when my patrons serve it on Lake Shore Drive, its called hospitality”, que poderia ser traduzida para o Português assim : "Quando eu sirvo bebida alcoólica, isso é chamado contrabando, quando a nata da sociedade serve Na Av. Lake Shore, é chamada hospitalidade"
Partidos políticos à época passaram a lei seca nos EUA, tendo como pano de fundo a Moralidade, e em curto tempo beneficiou os traficantes e Senhores dos Negócios Escusos, cercados por celebridades.
A corrupção é a neta da Hipocrisia e filha das "boas intenções" cujo inferno, caso exista, está com os estoques abarrotados.
O Recente partido chamado REDE lançado em Brasília tem a vontade de ser contra algumas liberdades que o Partido Verde sempre defendeu, inclusive localmente quando fomentamos a nossa tradicional, famosa e pequena indústria cervejeira de Ribeirão Preto
Temas ligados ao aborto, uso controlado de drogas, liberdade religiosa, começam a ser questinados por um falso moralismo religioso que pretende ser (politicamente) correto do ponto de vista de um grupo de pessoas tidas como de grande valor.
Já vimos essa história, vamos ter de vê-la novamente, para daqui 20 anos voltarmos atrás ?
Não se muda de canoa no meio do rio. Se você condena o que defendia é porque sempre foi contra ou sempre foi incoerente. Nenhuma das atitudes encontraria espaço, senão em política midiática de curto prazo.

Politicians and Parties

Amazon's Dolce Gabbana



What do you think is the main goal of a politician ?
If you say, to be elected , you are correct. If the answer is to have a Party for him/her self you are also correct.
Here in Brazil we have 30 parties and yesterday a group of politicians leaded by Marina Silva, lounched a new one to be what they already are, another group of politicians.
Marina gathered almost 20 million votes in our last election for President as a member of the Green Party (PV), after she left the Labour Party (PT) due to conflicts she had with the so Minister of Mines and Energy, Dilma Roussef, our actual president.

 

After last election she realized PV was not good enough for her, so she also left it to create her own Party. It did not have a name before yesterday, February 16, 2013 and now it has : Rede (or net). Fancy expected to be pro-every-thing-correct, it is also know as Marina's Party.
Now that we face new elections in 2014, Marina keeps her dream to become the President of Brazil proposing a different way of making politics. She dreams to have a Party without politicians, without big corporations finance.
Will reality show her that it is impossible or will she keep dreaming ?

O Homem Carnívoro

Não, eu não conheço nenhum humano carnívoro. Ainda que meus amigos sejam dos maiores consumidores de carnes bovinas, de aves e suinas não conseguem se alimentar exclusivamente de carnes.
Mesmo não sendo antropologista ou dentista é fácil fazer uma análise dos nossos dentes, quatro caninos, sem a função de perfurar, incisivos prontos para cortar e principalmente molares para constringir grãos, talos e tubérculos duros.
Desde que as primeiras sementes começaram a ser cultivadas, lá estava o Homo sapiens (sucessor do Homo habilis), correndo de predadores, se escondendo das feras e se alimentando de proteína animal, primeiro encontrada em carcaças, dentro de ossos, o chamado tutano, alimentando-se de proteína animal de vez em quando, o que foi crucial para que desenvolvesse ainda mais seu cérebro, desenvolveu novas ferramentas que permitissem predar com mais acurácia, e aí sim passa a ficar no topo da cadeia alimentar, diminuindo assim o gasto em calorias, que pudessem ser acumuladas para atividades de laser e reprodução.
Como podem então alguns humanos se alimentarem exclusivamente de proteínas vegetais ? Isso é fácil, fomos desenvolvidos comendo uma ração muito mais vegetal que animal, o que nos impediu de sermos carnívoros.
Entramos então para a classificação de onívoros, ou seja, aquele que se alimenta de tudo, assim como os porcos.
Recuso-me a ser chamado de carnívoro, e jamais recuso um belo bife, que sempre completa a minha (ainda) refeição ideal.

I don't know any canivore human. Yet my best friends are some of the greatest consumers of bovine, chicken and pork meats, they cannot get fed exclusivelly on meats.
Even not being anthropologist or dentist it is easy to analyse our teeth, four canines without the function of drilling, incisors ready to cut and mainly molars to press grain, steams and hard roots.
Ever since the first seeds started to be cultivated, there were Homo sapiens,  (after Homo habilis) running from predators, hiding from the beasts and getting fed from animal protein once in a while, which was crucial to develop even faster its brains, so new hunting tools could be developed and hunting became an easier task, saving calories that could be used for joy and reproduction.
How, then, can some humans get fed exclusevelly on vegetal proteins ? That's easy. We were developed eating a tucker much more based on vegetal than animal ratio, which avoided us from being exclusevelly canivore.
We got a classification of onivore, which means CAN EAT ALL, just like pigs.
I refuse to be called carnivore, and never refuse a nice steak, that alway complements (still) my ideal meals.

Oops, almost forgot the Ongole and Gir beer.


 

180 milhões de toneladas

Brazil has at the moment a stuck economy growing something like 2% p.a., wich is definetelly an almost "no-grow".
However we have here a group of 30 million heroes doing their best to produce more and more food every year, we call them farmers.
Agriculture in Brazil this year will supply the World with no less than 180 million tones of grains, not counting coffee, fruit, meats (pork and beef), sugar, ethanol, orange juice, etc
Agriculture has faced a 12%  growth in 2012, an unbelivable number, bigger than China's growth.
Many people will say that our agriculture faces no competition, and that's why it grows so fast. It is not true. We have Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, here in South America, The United States and Canada in North America, Russia, France, In Europe, South Africa, Botswana, in southern Africa, Australia and New Zeland in the Southern Pacific, even Saudi Arabia, and its large centre pivots irrigating at oil profits...
They will also say that we are deforestating, wich is not treu also. Old pastures are being renovated with agriculture, and that is an enourmous amount of land that is also producing two or three years and than  given back to cattle, in a rotary system...so here we are, supplying food all over the World at low cost and great quality, using the best of Brazilian technology to do so.
If there were a few  bad coments I would stick with logistics. Most of these grains are transported by trucks on roads... very expensive I'd say. Our ports have high costs and we don't have as many as we could have, considering our coast of 8 thousand kilometres.
So this is just to compliment our farmers, people who wake up early and work hard.
Please contact me at : andrerodini@uol.com.br