tomorrow
T
obacco has a very rich past. Ever since the Europeans had their first con-
tact with this plant, as soon as Colombo’s caravels landed at the New
World, in 1492, and saw Indians consuming this leaf, tobacco gradually
spread throughout the planet. The cultivation regions began to expand
in the same proportion, and the lands suitable to this crop made for-
tunes. Brazil was one of them.
If this agricultural and industrial activity accumulates a past of which it should feel
proud, for the wealth it brought to peoples and nations, its future seems to hold in
store the same brilliance. In the second decade of the 21st century, the production of
tobacco continues as one of themost important socioeconomic activities in tens of na-
tions. Its benefits translate into investments in towns and rural settings, and not even
the exasperation of non-government organizations (NGOs), fighting cigarette con-
sumption, has inhibited, on a case-by-case basis, the global market of this commodity.
In South Brazil, the economy of three states relies on the tobacco supply chain, to
such an extent that in Rio Grande do Sul this crop ranks second in the agribusiness bal-
Whenthe
Europeansarrived
intheNewWorld,
in1492,they
learnedabout
tobacco.Thecrop
isstillgenerating
progress,
especiallyinBrazil
ance of trade. There ismore: since 1993, Brazil has been the leading global leaf exporter, and has kept this position since
then, a fact that attests to the enhancement of the cultivation and processing techniques in the Country.
Within the context of the agricultural activities, tobacco is setting an example to other supply chains. Maybe because
the sector is under constant attack, producers and leaderships know that the sector needs to adopt the strictest con-
trols of its processes. In town and in the rural setting, the adhesion to unprecedented social and environmental respon-
sibility programs translates into quality of life and in support to regional development. Furthermore, the most modern
cultivation methods, that favor the environment, are an assurance of the smallest amounts of pesticides compared to
other supply chains, including food crops. One of the positive sides is the acceptance of the Integrated Production Sys-
tem in the rural setting, a programconducted inpartnershipwith theMinistry of Agriculture, Livestock and FoodSupply.
For its longpast, and for its enviableproductionand industrial structure, it ismore thanevident that the cultivationof to-
bacco, formal, generator of jobs and income, has a very promising future. The seeds of tomorrow are sown year after year,
and the leaves harvested in several regions across the Country, are an assurance of the livelihood of millions of people. The
farmsarediversified,devotedtoseveralcrops,butdonotforgetthewealththatcomesfromthemainincomesource.Itisthis
dynamicstory,intunewithmoderntimes,thatthe2016BrazilianTobaccoYearbookinvitesyoutoknow.Whenhumanitydis-
covered theNewWorld, it discovered tobacco,which, therefore, is almost a synonymfor newworld.
n
Seedsof
Inor Ag. Assmann
8
