Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul is experiencing catastrophic flooding

When I had the opportunity to go to Brazil last year, I spent the first days in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is located in the southern part of Brazil, still many hours away from the ports along the ocean. While there, I saw some of the most lush regions of agricultural production. However, many of these farms are located on plateaus. The rest of the state has beautiful rivers and valleys covered with lush green trees and vegetation. It was a beautiful area that I would love to return to. At the moment, however, the landscape is anything but picturesque.

Like every other region of the world, Mother Nature is in charge. Rio Grande do Sul is currently discovering this in a very painful way. As they try to get through their second harvest season, they are faced with catastrophic flooding.

Joanna Colussi is a postdoctoral research associate in agricultural economics and a native of the state. She recently took a trip with students to her birthplace and saw the devastation and heartbreak with her own eyes. The floods have changed or claimed thousands of lives.

Rio Grande Do Sul grows much of the country’s soybeans, and the destruction of many fields that are not on plateaus will have a bad effect on the country.

From an agricultural point of view, the floods could not have come at a worse time.

Colussi also says the rice losses will reduce national production by 20 percent. The flooding is expected to have a smaller impact on corn because farmers in Rio Grande do Sul typically do not plant a second corn crop due to the weather.