Winter cereal harvest concludes cycle with challenges for wheat and opportunities for oats and barley in Santa Catarina

The Santa Catarina winter cereal crop season is coming to an end marked by distinct trajectories among wheat, oats, and barley. The combination of pressured prices in the international market and lower economic attractiveness reduced the area cultivated with wheat in the state. On the other hand, oats and barley constitute important winter alternatives for income generation, production diversification, and soil conservation. In the case of barley, profitability was favored by the adoption of forward contracts between producers, cooperatives, and the industry, which guaranteed prices and reduced marketing risks. Oats, in turn, reinforced its role as both an economic option and a strategic crop for soil management and diversification of production systems. According to João Rogério Alves, an analyst for Socioeconomics and Rural Development at Epagri/Cepa, the wheat harvested in the state has been considered of excellent quality, however, not all the news is good. “The negative point ...