Growth and instability of the 1992/93 - 2016/17 soybean crops in the main producing states of Brazil

Abstract

The expansion of world demand for food and energy hasresulted in increased agricultural yields and production. Soybeanproduction, specifically, is among the economic activities that haveshown significant growth at national and global levels in recent decades.In this context, policymakers and other agents involved in the soybeanproduction chain must pay careful attention to the instability with whichyield and production increases occur over time. Therefore, the objective ofthis study was to evaluate this instability and growth in soybean plantedarea, production, and yield in the main producing states of Brazil overthe 1992/93 to 2016/17 crops. We measured instability by applying theCuddy-Della Valle index and growth rates calculated using a log-linearregression with post decomposition analysis. We observed that allvariables, in all states, presented a tendency of growth—particularly thatof planted area, which was the main production-defining element. Weadditionally found low levels of instability for planted area, production,and yield in most analyzed regions.