Grain terminal key to agriculture future in Brazil

The Itacoatiara Port, a floating grain terminal in the Amazon River, may also be the key to the country's future on the world's agricultural stage.

It is owned by the Andre Maggi Group, a privately-held family corporation that includes Blairo Maggi, the current governor of Mato Grosso and soy farmer.

Mato Grosso, which produces 8% of the world's soy crop, is landlocked. The rail system and barge terminals within the state are in their infancy stage at best and moving products out of the state, let alone to export markets, is a challenge to say the least.

Moving by truck across two-lane highways and mile upon mile of dirt roads, soybeans are transported 1,000 miles to Porto Velho, said Jander Santos, the director of operations for the port. Here, they are loaded on a barge to be shipped up the Rio Negro to the Itacoatiara Port that the Maggi family built in 1997 to open export markets for Brazilian soy.

The port exported 2.5 million tonnes of soy last year and they expect to do 2.8 million tonnes this year.