Technology/Rabobank: productivity grows more than area and places Brazil as an agricultural powerhouse

By Gabriel Azevedo São Paulo, 24/10/2025 - Grain production in Brazil is increasingly a result of efficiency and less of territorial expansion. According to Rabobank, productivity has grown by 5.9% annually over the last three decades, while the planted area has advanced by 3.6%. "Ten years ago, a harvest of 50 sacks per hectare was excellent. Today, the national average reaches 66 sacks, a direct reflection of the technology applied to the field," says Marcela Marini, the bank's senior analyst for grains and oilseeds. For Rabobank, technological advancement has changed how Brazilian farmers deal with risk. "Technology has become a tool for economic and agronomic mitigation," says Marini. The combination of soil correction, biotechnology, and precision agriculture has reduced costs and losses, accelerated planting, and consolidated the model of two crops in the same agricultural year. In Mato Grosso, 57% of soybean areas are followed by second-season corn; in Brazil, the average ...