Unforgettable Ag-ventures

The best of two  Latin worlds

Winter 2012

Want to experience the real Brazil?  Take the trolley to Rio’s Corcovado?  Ride the cable car up Sugar Loaf Mountain?  Dine at a Churascaria, the famous Brazilian barbeque?  We’ll spend the weekend at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro... probably one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

Then experience the Cerrado, Brazil’s 250 million hectare “new frontier” where 10,000 hectare fazendas are “small”.  This is the heart of Soybean, Cotton and Cattle country.  You’ve read a lot about it; now is your chance to see these farms firsthand, to ask questions, and to learn why Brazil is bursting onto the world’s agri-scene. On what was once considered wasteland, farms are now expanding with technology that will amaze you. Next, we’ll head to Parana state where grains, livestock, poultry, hog and dairy family farms spread across a rolling landscape which borders Paraguay in the west and ends at the Atlantic port of Paranagua which we will also tour.  Post WWII, many Dutch immigrants brought their cooperative philosophy here.  The ag cooperative movement remains strong in  Castrolanda, the research facilities and processing plants. This region also boasts progressive Land Reform settlements (a side of Brazil’s ag scene that you many not be familiar with). So we visit a land reform colony, tour their small collective acreages and learn about their organic farming methods.

After a busy week, we’ll be ready to kick back at a luxury hotel / spa in Iguaçu Falls. Eleanor Roosevelt wasn’t wrong when she said “ Iguaçu Falls makes Niagara look like a kitchen faucet”.  We’ll tour the spectacular falls from both Brazil & Argentina’s sides, the massive Itaipu Hydro dam, and other nature sites.

Then we cross into Argentina: new culture, new landscape and often a new government.  Politics in Argentina is always changing and it greatly affects the Argentine ag scene. So we’ll be briefed with a Q&A at the Canadian Embassy in Buenos Aires.  Liniers Stockyards is a “must see” and we’ll also enjoy an amazing Tango dinner show. We tour B.A.’s most famous districts like LaBoca and Recoletta with ample time to shop along chic Florida promenade.  But, there’s more to Argentina than B.A. We’ll travel to see soybean and other crops, beef cattle and more and the fabulous farm show, Expochacra.

Let your “Latin side” shine for a couple of weeks………….you won’t regret it.

South American Add-On:

Colonia Uruguay

After completing the Brazil / Argentina tour, cross the Rio Plata by ferryboat from B. A. to one of the earliest
habitations in South America……….Colonia. Much of the four century old stone architecture has been retained and you can browse shops featuring high quality leather at ridiculously low prices, or relax poolside at the Don Antonio Posada. Maybe a daytrip into historic Monte Video would tempt you, or just rent a car and peruse rolling hillsides and small towns dotted with cattle. Enquire for details and pricing.