Activities
June 11
Depart Cedar Rapids for Rio de Janeiro.
June 12
Check in to hotel in Rio de Janeiro. Brief orientation and time for relaxation. Optional Brazilian show.
June 13
Free time for sightseeing or shopping in Rio. After lunch, tour of Rio, including Sugar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer, Maracana Football [soccer] Stadium and the beaches.
June 14
Domestic flight to Campinas with our tour guide. Presentation and overview of agriculture in Brazil.
June 15
Drive to Piracicaba. Visit ESALQ University, the largest and most important agricultural university in the country. Meet university staff and students, then focus on ethanol and biodiesel. Visit a sugar cane factory or a factory producing machinery for sugar cane mills and tour the largest sugar cane research station in Brazil.
June 16
Visit a sugar cane plant producing ethanol, see the sugar cane fields in the surrounding area and learn about the growing of cane and ethanol production. Drive to Botucatu to inspect the top cattle genetics centre. See the different cattle breeds and the collection, storing and distribution of semen, embryos, etc.
June 17
Depart for Holambra, a Dutch farming cooperative. Learn how the coop works and experience the highlytechnological production of corn, wheat, cotton, citrus and sugar cane crops. Visit a very intensive grass-based cattle producer and learn how Brazilian beef production relies on a working grass management system.
June 18
Visit several farming operations centered around a historic cooperative in the Parana state. The area is noted for growing maize, wheat, soybeans, potatoes, bananas and beans. There are also dairies and hog farms. Tour the Dutch Immigration Memorial and grain silos/elevators.
June 19
Tour Guarapuava, another high-tech farming region in the state of Parana. Focus will be on large farms with corn, soybeans, wheat and forestry. Tour a biodiesel plant and a small mixed beef cattle and crop farm to learn how small farmers operate and make a living in Brazil.
June 20
Visit the research headquarters of Coodetec, the central seed research organization for the Cooperatives in Parana. Or choose to visit a private seed company’s research station. Arrive in Foz do Iguassu in the early afternoon.
June 21
Complete city tour in Foz do Iguassu, including the National Park, a short jungle safari and a jet boat ride right up to the magnifi cent falls.
June 22/23
Depart Brazil/Arrive Cedar Rapids.
