The United States has long been the hands-down largest producer of soybeans worldwide. Brazil, in the last 20 years, has been chasing U.S. production numbers and increasing their harvested acres dramatically. (See Figure 1) 2015-2016 data shows that Brazil has achieved a greater harvest area than the United States, however, still yielding less production. The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, in a recent release of a World Agricultural Production report, forecasted Brazil’s area harvested as reaching a record breaking 33.9 million hectares. Additionally, estimated yield per hectare is forecasted to be 3.07 tons, a 6% increase from last year and the 5-year average. Overall, the forecast for Brazil’s total 2017 yield is at 3.909 billion bushels an increase of nearly 400 million bushels from last year’s production. (USDA and Anulacion, 2017)

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