🫛 How soy conquered Brazil’s interior

Brazil harvested a record 180.4 million tonnes of soybeans in the 2025/26 crop year, according to Conab, the federal supply agency, which forecasts a slightly larger 181.6 million tonnes for 2026/27. Fifty years ago, the country produced 12.1 million tonnes. Better yields explain part of the leap, as output per hectare has more than doubled, but most of it comes from land.

The Municipal Agricultural Production survey, by the official statistics agency IBGE, shows planted area rising from 10.6 million hectares in 1988 to 46.2 million in 2024. The map (for paying subscribers) tracks that expansion municipality by municipality, showing a crop that did not simply grow but moved…