The Performance of the Agricultural Economics in BRICS Countries - The Agricultural Economics of the 21st Century - page 72

regions, specifically in the southern hemisphere that suffer from lack of water and
high temperatures.
The competition for land between agriculture for food, agriculture for biofuel
production, and urban areas is a reality that can compromise the future of the
regularity of supply within food markets.
In recent years there have been many technological advances in several areas
and this applies to farming too. Today with precision agriculture it is possible to
reduce the environmental impact and reduce the cost of production with reduced
investments. On the other hand, alternative ways of food production, such as
organic farming and others, can help in environmental preservation. But the
tradeoff among the economic perspective of agriculture and other associated
questions (social, environmental, and cultural) will continue over time.
2 Literature Review
Agriculture plays an important role in emerging economics, namely in the BRICS,
considering that the countries need to have a developed farming sector in order to
have a dynamic economy (Brosig et al. 2013 ).
There is a rising concern to develop an agriculture which is compatible with the
environment and with the preservation of the biodiversity in Brazil (Souza
et al. 2012 ).
The utilization and production of biofuel increased significantly over recent
years, namely using corn grain in the USA and sugarcane juice in Brazil. There
are other resources for producing biofuels; however, their economic viability
depends upon several factors (Sainz 2009 ).
The distance to markets and the investments in farms are some of the main
factors that can affect the value of the land in the Brazilian Amazon (Sills and
Caviglia-Harris 2008 ). The occupation of the Brazilian Amazon is heterogeneous
and depends, again, upon the distance to markets and environmental conditions
(Aguiar et al. 2007 ).
In Brazil subsistence farmers have low technological skills, low education,
practice a diverse agriculture, and have an inappropriate transgenic technology.
So, the impact of the farming of transgenic products is diverse and depends on
many factors, as do the characteristics of the farmers (Hall et al. 2008 ).
The reforms in Brazilian agricultural policies have improved the performance of
the farming sector and converted this sector into one of the most dynamic in the
economy (Helfand and Rezende 2004 ).
The environment, climate changes, and sustainability are, also, motives for
concern in Russian agriculture (Smith et al. 2007 ; Beurs et al. 2009 ).
After the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, the agricultural land in Russia was
privatized and can now be bought or sold. However, there are yet some barriers
which prevent these land markets to become more dynamic, namely being the