Brazil farms option
That’s the motto of some Irish farmers who have witnessed the flood of cheaply produced foods from Brazil taking over some of their lucrative EU markets, and driving down prices.
Rather than have all their eggs in the Ireland basket, a handful of farmers here are looking at diversifying into Brazil, with the help of off-farm investment advisers Farrelly and Mitchell.
Malachy Mitchell admits they are looking at two or three farms there on behalf of clients who may farm owned lands there, or become share-farmers.
He says they certainly wouldn’t be recommending farming in Brazil as a client’s sole investment vehicle. It’s a “volatile” business with tax complications, but he admits that some Irish farmers could end up sending beef from Brazil to the EU.
The country has a huge land supply, with Mitchell reckoning it has 90m hectares lying fallow, which could be “activated” for farming for $100 a hectare.
Still, the investor in Brazil would be even better off looking at office buildings in Sao Paulo than farmland, according to Farrelly and Mitchell’s assessment of the country.
