Cotton Farm

LandRush - Frontier Land

LandRush - Frontier Land
Frauke Huber, Uwe H. Martin

The soya highway connects the enormous farms in west Brazil to the Amazon harbor of Santarem. The road is the artery through which life flows into the region. In just forty years the road opened up the wilderness to commercial development which renders the land from forest to industrial.

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  • Cotton seeds are loaded to a truck at Fazenda Maraba in Campo Verde. 

    The seeds are used for animal feed and the production of biodiesel. Vertical integration is the biggest trend in agriculture, using all parts of a crop for profits.

  • Cattle stands in a feedlot at Fazenda Maraba near Campo Verde. The plan is to grow 40,000 heads of cattle three times per year. 

    Although Brazil is known for its large farm lands where cattle is grazing, currently most larger farmers are moving to feedlot meat production. The cattle is fed with corn silage and cotton pie, a residue of cotton seeds, which is very high in protein.

  • A cotton field on Fazenda Maraba.

    A cotton field on Fazenda Maraba.

  • Fazenda Maraba near Campo Verde is one of the largest and most modern cotton farms of Brazil. 

    Besides cotton the farm grows corn and soy and raises cattle. As the center of JPupin company, which holds about 220,000 hectare farmland in Mato Grosso, Maraba has two cotton gins on its vast land. It is considered the best employer in the region, paying fair salaries, providing comfortable housing  and keeping workers for a long time.

  • Cotton is an industrial endeavor on Fazenda Maraba near Campo Verde in Mato Grosso.

    Cotton is an industrial endeavor on Fazenda Maraba near Campo Verde in Mato Grosso.

  • Workers prepare a new cotton gin on Fazenda Maraba. 

    The gin with a capacity of 60 cotton bales per hour will complement the first gin on the farm with 40 bales per hour. Farmers in Brazil are increasingly becoming agroindustrial with vertically integrating all production steps within their farms. The cotton harvested on Maraba and the other farms of JPupin is ginned, the seeds pressed and processed into biofuel and the remains used for high protein animal feed.

  • Truck drivers take a short break in a small bar next to the bumpy road connecting Aqua Limpa with the main junction at Paranatinga. 

    Trucks haul the cotton of JPupin from up to 450 kilometers to the gin at Fazenda Maraba. The road is in very bad condition, which will improve significantly within the next year with a new paved road being build. Once the road is finished the cafe, now in the middle of nowhere, will become a prime property with a value close to a million Dollar.

  • A cotton field on Fazenda Maraba is covered with the cotton dust bursting out from the cotton gin on the farm. Fazenda Maraba developed from a farm to an industrial endeavor. It houses two cotton gins with a capacity of 100 bales ginned cotton per hour, as well as a biofuel plant.

    A cotton field on Fazenda Maraba is covered with the cotton dust bursting out from the cotton gin on the farm. Fazenda Maraba developed from a farm to an industrial endeavor. It houses two cotton gins with a capacity of 100 bales ginned cotton per hour, as well as a biofuel plant.

  • GPS guided cotton pickers of the newest generation are used on Fazenda Maraba near Campo Verde in Mato Grosso.

    GPS guided cotton pickers of the newest generation are used on Fazenda Maraba near Campo Verde in Mato Grosso.

  • Workers wait for the bus after the dayshift during the cotton harvest on Fazenda Maraba.

    Workers wait for the bus after the dayshift during the cotton harvest on Fazenda Maraba.

  • Workers from the Fazenda Maraba sleep during their one hour commute from the farm back to their homes in Campo Verde, Mato Grosso. 

    The farm provides the transportation for farmworkers who choose to stay in town instead of the housing provided by the company.
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Cotton Farm

Fazenda Maraba is one of the most modern cotton farms in Brazil, producing and processing cotton on an industrial scale.

Cotton Farm
Artist/Author: Uwe H. Martin Frauke Huber

Fazenda Maraba is one of the most modern cotton farms in Brazil, producing and processing cotton on an industrial scale.