THAT was the week that was with 11 flights – and it should have been the round dozen but for some dodgy flying weather – and countless miles on roads that were often no more than dirt tracks.
To visit South America had always been one of my cherished ambitions so when the invitation to travel to Brazil arrived, there was no way that I was going to decline.
Before leaving I pulled out the atlas, which duly confirmed that Brazil is a t
ruly colossal country. However, a page of print does no justice to the reality. We flew from Paris to Sao Paulo and were at once staggered by the scale of the place. It has a population of 22 million, which makes it at least 40 times bigger than Edinburgh, and it felt like it.
I was one of a party of six journalists from Europe – two Frenchmen, an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scot. We were there at the behest of the Brazilian cattle industry. Last May, a party from the Republic of Ireland visited Brazil, which has a population of 188 million and a combined cattle herd of around 200 million head.
The Irish returned to Dublin with a veritable litany of grievances concerning the Brazilian beef industry, most notably a perceived lack of traceability and alleged inconsistencies in the vaccination programme against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). I duly aired my concerns in print and on the airwaves.
After months of pressure by the Irish and other major beef-producing countries, the European Commission imposed a blanket ban on all imports from Brazil from the end of January. Last year, Brazil exported more than 300,000 tonnes of beef to Europe, so the loss of this market might have been assumed to hit the industry hard.
That appears not to be the case. Pratini de Moraes, the minister of agriculture stressed that while it was "disappointing" the European Union had imposed a ban, his country was finding new markets all the time, particularly in the Far East and China.
It was also pointed out that if the Brazilian per capita consumption of beef – currently 36kg – was to increase by just 3kg, then there would be virtually no product available for export. This scenario is eminently plausible given that living standards are rising rapidly as the overall economy expands by more than 5 per cent each year.
We visited several very large ranches, or estancias, in several of the major beef-producing regions and repeatedly sought clarification on traceability and the Irish allegations. On every occasion we were informed that a system of identification was in place. However, the minister did concede that it was not perhaps up to EU standards.
He said: "It is so easy to operate in Europe, but Brazil is a big country with huge numbers of cattle and I am confident that we will have a system in place before the end of this year that will satisfy Brussels."
There is a petition circulating in Scotland opposing Brussels' intention to impose a regime of individual identification for every sheep in the land. The NFU Scotland view is that this is simply not practicable, given the extensive nature of much of the sheep industry.
NFUS has a good point, but so do the Brazilians in relation to their cattle industry and the fact that stocking rates are numbered in hectares per beast in a country that is one-and-a-half times the size of Europe and Ukraine combined.
Brazilian beef producers also argue, again with a degree of cogency, that it is wrong to ban all exports. They contend that if a handful of cases of FMD were to be confirmed in Slovenia, for example, then logic would dictate that the entire EU should be shut down for export purposes. That would never happen.
The last major incidence of FMD in Brazil was in October 2005, with the concentration in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, one of the leading regions for beef production. The illegal inflow of cattle from Paraguay was, and is still cited, as being the primary cause.
Cattle in Mato Grosso do Sul and several neighbouring states are now vaccinated twice annually. However, the authorities are confident that by 2012 at the latest, vaccination will be unnecessary throughout all of Brazil.
I admit to having arrived in Brazil with a degree of scepticism regarding traceability and disease control. However, in one of the rare moments of relaxation my friend Sean MacConnell of the Irish Times and I had to agree that some of the wilder allegations were largely unfounded.
That view was strengthened by a visit to a tannery adjoining one of the largest abattoirs in the country which, incidentally, has its own airstrip. The plant manager, Felip Traen, a hugely enthusiastic young Belgian, demonstrated conclusively that every hide – and more than 1,000 are processed each day – could be traced back to its farm of origin.
The trip was not without its moments when cattle were not the sole topic of discussion. I managed to catch a piranha fish on a boat trip and to ride a horse on the savannah as well as visiting a crocodile farm, where we subsequently lunched on the product – thoroughly recommended and far superior to chicken. But the ultimate moment came on a night-time safari where we were privileged to view one of the rarest animals on the planet – a jaguar with her cub. That truly was special.
Much of Brazil is teeming with wildlife, but its greatest asset is its people. This is a relatively young country, which, let it not be forgotten, provided allied troops in both world wars with considerable quantities of beef as well as a sizeable contingent of soldiers in the Italian campaign of late 1943.
Aspiring young farmers, and maybe some of a slightly older generation, might do well to consider the opportunities in this vibrant country. Some day I hope to return, but in the meantime I will conclude with obligato (thank you) Brazil.
