There is the action of agricultural cooperatives and industrial companies, which, by ensuring the acquisition of the harvest (either in capitalist or peasant family-based molds) stimulate cultivation and agricultural specialization in certain areas of the parents. Tropical fruits and soy are the main products, whose most important production spaces are, respectively, the irrigated valleys of the Sertão Nordestino (São Francisco and Açu rivers) and the west of Bahia.
The following products from Brazilian commercial agriculture deserve to be mentioned:
- coffee: for a long time, it remained limited to Paraná and São Paulo, producing under the partnership regime. Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and São Paulo maintain the lead in production. Bahia and Rondônia emerged as new producing areas, with a particularity: they are mainly cultivated by Paraná, former producers in the north of Paraná. Paraná has greatly increased its coffee production in recent years, due to the introduction of new species (dense coffee), developed by IAPAR (Instituto Agronômico do Paraná);
- Soy: expanded more vigorously in the country during the 70s, notably in the states of Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul. Typical export culture, it is increasingly focused on the domestic market due to the growing consumption of margarine and oils in Brazilian food. Currently, there is expansion in the cerrado areas, especially in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Goiás and Bahia;
- sugar cane: despite being cultivated in Brazil since the 16th century, its production was stimulated, from 1975 on, with the creation of Proálcool. The State of São Paulo has more than half of the national production, but it is also found in Goiás, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, as well as in northeastern states (Zona da Mata);
- Orange: product widely cultivated to meet the demand of the juice industry, the state of São Paulo is its main producer. Paraná and Minas Gerais are becoming new and important production areas. Brazil is a major exporter of concentrated juice, mainly to the US;
- rice: Rio Grande do Sul is the largest national producer of irrigated rice. Other states stand out in the production of this basic food crop: Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Maranhão, Goiás and São Paulo.
Other outstanding products are: wheat, despite being insufficient to supply the domestic market; cotton, heavily controlled by the textile and food (oil) industry. Cocoa, an ecological crop, is in crisis, especially in Bahia, its largest producer.
It is worth remembering that many producers in the South, mainly from Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, changed their territory. Among the main causes is the price of land. As a result, many migrated to other states in the country, becoming mainly soybean and coffee producers. Others moved to neighboring countries such as Bolivia and Paraguay. As already mentioned, the land issue is not just national, it is already becoming a transnational issue.
