IMAGE: A new study published in
Nature Food quantifies for the first time the impact that double-cropping had on helping Brazil achieve its national grain boom. Jing Gao, assistant professor of. view more
Credit: Photo illustration by Tammy Beeson
From 1980 to 2016, grain production in Brazil increased more than fourfold, and the country now stands as the world s largest soybean exporter and the second largest exporter of corn. The two main drivers of this increase in food production were cropland expansion and double-cropping, harvesting two crops, such as corn and soybeans, from the same field in a single year.
While cropland expansion has long been recognized as one of the drivers behind the increase in Brazil s agricultural output, a new study published in