It is impossible to truly understand the international land use issue without taking a long, hard look at Brazil, according to Joel Velasco of UNICA, and to-date the picture of the world’s second largest ethanol producing country is fuzzy at best.
Brazil is one of the largest players influencing the picture of international land use, yet more data collection and detailed analysis are needed, he told the National Corn Growers Association Ethanol Committee during meetings in Washington today.
Other nations will have difficulty making policies influenced by land use until this step is taken and the effort is really just getting underway in earnest, Velasco said. The good news is Brazil is undertaking the most thorough look at land use to-date using remote sensing satellite technology and it should provide a wealth of data on sugar cane production, pasture management and deforestation.
To a large degree, the data is expected to reinforce the potential to further grow ethanol production while balancing climate change concerns. The 125 ethanol producers in Brazil today make 7.1 billion gallons of ethanol and export 1.3 billion gallons. While the domestic market for ethanol is rapidly maturing in Brazil they plan to grow exports to 4.1 billion by 2020.
Velasco’s snapshot of Brazil also included the following:
• Ethanol is the No. 1 renewable energy source in Brazil, while gasoline is an alternative fuel.
• Ethanol production is concentrated in South-Central Brazil, mile from the critical natural resource represented in the Amazon Rainforest. Most sugar cane production will come from transitioning abundant pasture land to crops. A 2 percent shift in pasture lands would allow Brazil to double ethanol production.
• 92 percent of new cars sold in Brazil thus far in 2009 are flexible fuel vehicles and 80% of the time drivers choose ethanol.
• Among the 1.2 million vehicles sold you will find Hondas, Toyotas, Fiatts, Nissan and Hyundai. Basically, to do business in Brazil, using high blends of ethanol is a given.
• Brazil’s food production has doubled in the last ten years because of yield gains, while the volume of sugar cane for ethanol production has grown 130 percent.