Plot research on the Wehrmann farm
There’s been huge diversity over the last few days, let alone what the Nuffield Scholars have seen over the last 7 weeks. One contrast has been the approach to labour between the Wehrmann (www.wehrmann.com.br) 3000ha vege/crop farm that employs 2500 people, compared to “California Farm” - a 4800ha soy/corn farm that employs 16 people. Both have significant investment in technology – for example, Wehrmann Group has its own on-farm research laboratories and is the largest garlic producer in Brasil despite garlic being a cold climate plant. The soy/corn farm has 18000t on-farm storage including its own crop-drying facilities and a full no-till system with auto-steer on the majority its cropping machinery.
The government bank offers a reduced interest rate on business loans if the investment will create a good dose of employment for some of the countries 180 million inhabitants. Minimum wage is R$600/month for ‘mao de obra” (work-force) and up to 30% of business costs are in labour force. The issue with mao de obra is the potential for lack of education, understanding and commitment to the job. At ABS, one of the leading cattle breeding companies in the country, there were less than a handful of tertiary qualified staff, yet people busy everywhere. The place was schmick and the staff were all in uniform and cleaner than what I could imagine possible when working with cattle all day. The Nuffield scholars commented that they basically spent their first time of the tour with hands-on farmers when visiting some dairy farms that Pablo organised – an interesting observation to further explore the role of business owners and managers in terms of who is driving the business.
The government bank offers a reduced interest rate on business loans if the investment will create a good dose of employment for some of the countries 180 million inhabitants. Minimum wage is R$600/month for ‘mao de obra” (work-force) and up to 30% of business costs are in labour force. The issue with mao de obra is the potential for lack of education, understanding and commitment to the job. At ABS, one of the leading cattle breeding companies in the country, there were less than a handful of tertiary qualified staff, yet people busy everywhere. The place was schmick and the staff were all in uniform and cleaner than what I could imagine possible when working with cattle all day. The Nuffield scholars commented that they basically spent their first time of the tour with hands-on farmers when visiting some dairy farms that Pablo organised – an interesting observation to further explore the role of business owners and managers in terms of who is driving the business.