After college I wanted to see who my competition was as a producer from NW MN. Soybeans were not of a particular concern at that time back in 1994. I joined a group from North Dakota and Minnesota. We toured southern Brazil and then a region to the west of Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the time I was more impressed with Argentina. Their soils were black and fertile. They were growing 1st crop soybeans followed by 2nd crop wheat. They were using very little fertilizer. I became aware very quickly that we must be lean and mean in order to survive in the global environment of bulk commodity production.

In 1996 I traveled to New Zealand and Australia on a similar type Farm Tour. I enjoyed the hospitality of the KIWIs and made friends with many Australian kangaroos. I only saw a small portion of Australia; however, I quickly realized that they had adapted to the lean margins of producing wheat and other commodities in a global marketplace.

When the Top Producer magazine came to my mailbox back in the summer of 1998 and it had a picture of a former North Dakota farmer that had moved to Brazil in search of cheap land and opportunity, I again became intrigued with Brazil. The 1st things that came to my mind were:

- "How do I get there?”
- "Where is Bahia?"
- "Are there roads?"
- "Who will help me when I get there?"

The thought of going to visit the “NEW Frontier” of Brazil seemed so impossible at the time. A trip to the MOON seemed closer and easier to make.

The next two years I continued to research and keep my ear to the ground of who could assist me on a tour of these new production areas on the planet. As fate would have it, I found a guy from Minnesota that was taking small groups to Brazil each year. Let us just say, life has not been the same since.

January 2001, I joined a group of dynamic producers and businessmen on a trip to Mato Grosso. I had no idea where I was going. How does one get to Cuiabá?  What will the hotels be like?  Will we like the food?  Will the locals be open to us visiting them?

The simple answer to all of the above was : NO PROBLEM.

The Hotel in Cuiabá was outstanding in this city of 750,000 people. On Day 2 of our excellent adventure we all got into vans and headed north to the frontier. We traveled through a small mountain range and about 3 hours of small farms of pasture and livestock. I was asking myself, “Are there any soybeans out here?” Then all of a sudden we were on top of a level plateau. You could look all the way to the horizon. It was an ocean of GREEN. Soybeans as far as you could see. Hour after hour passed as we traveled along an asphalt road called BR 163. We were all in shock. All this land has been cleared in the past 10 years? We can buy it for how much per acre?  They grow two crops per year here? That is too cheap we all told ourselves. They can grow soybeans here for $2.80/bushel? Can this be true? If so I am screwed in NW MN. All of these questions were bouncing around in my head.

We had several nice visits with local farmers, businessmen, and community leaders. Some spoke English. Some had studied in the USA.

The thing that I found so energizing was their optimism. Everyone was so positive and pro-growth. This was a turbo-charged Ag Economy. This was exactly the opposite of my region in NW MN. The ag economy was slowly dying and other industries were supplying jobs for the local population. In central Mato Grosso, producers were clearing “TENS” of thousands of acres per year to be brought into production, meanwhile in the USA, they were putting “Tens” of thousands of acres per county into the CRP program to take land out of production. What is wrong with this picture I asked myself?

It was the rainy season when we visited so there was no land clearing during this time. I told myself, I must come back in the dry season to see how they can clear these large trees and bring land into production in an 18 month timeframe. I had cleared land in Minnesota, it seems like it takes 10 years before one can say he is done with a project. To get a new piece of ground “perfect”.

Later in 2001 I returned to the same area during the dry season. I was shocked and awed by the rate of development taking place. When I saw with my own eyes how TWO D-7 caterpillars could lay down 80 acres of trees per day, I was completely amazed. I had learned that hundreds of caterpillars were working in the forest at any given moment.