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

Resumen

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