American farmers are scared. They can only shrug their shoulders unable to even talk about it. What could provoke this kind of anxiety? Competing with Canadian pork? You’re kidding: they’ll soon be crushing us with tons of countervailing duties. WTO trade negotiations? I doubt it, most aren’t even aware of what’s going on.

Then what? Or should I say, who?

The Brazilians, yes sir, the Brazilians: they’re the reason for all those sleepless nights. The Chicago Tribune, a prestigious newspaper with a distribution that not only covers Chicago but all of the Midwest as well, has just published a series of articles by Andrew Martin on Brazil’s agriculture. And this reporter is writing very unsettling stuff.

This is just one quote among so many others: “Smithfield, an American company, has just built, in collaboration with a Brazilian partner, on 2,500 acres of land in Diamantino, the largest pig farm in the world, capable of housing 150,000 pigs at one time. And not a neighbour in sight. They plan to build another similar farm right next door, at the same cost of $30 million. With cheap and plentiful soy and inexpensive labour – $5 per day is considered good money in these parts – they’re ready to take over the world market.

What else did this reporter have to say? Oh yeah. Brazilians are hugely ambitious when it comes to their pork industry. In fact, they wish to duplicate this scenario with poultry. Remember, about 20 years ago, half the world market belonged to the Americans. Starting from next to nothing, the Brazilians have now conquered 31% of that market, and it’s still growing.

I’m pretty sure it’s the same thing for soy, a very popular ingredient in animal feed rations. In fact, the U.S. controlled 80% of the world’s soy market in the 1960s. Today, its market share has shrunk by more than half. Brazil and Argentina have taken advantage of this debacle and now supply over 50% of the world market.

That, my friend, is why Americans are fretting!

Confronted with this existential predicament, American politicians try to be supportive. We hear them say, ad nauseam, that American agriculture remains strong. They’re better looking, they’re the nicest, the richest, and the best. So, why are they worried about Brazil? Yeah, why are they?

Furthermore, they like to add with a hint of malice, that South America is filled with incongruities: its government is unstable and its bureaucracy is totally corrupt. There are bandits roving the great plains of Matto Grosso, just like in the Old West, stealing and pillaging impoverished peasants. Notwithstanding the ongoing scandal with the Amazon forest as it is being plundered and crushed by bulldozers, as we speak.

But, they vigorously insist, the biggest obstacle facing Brazil’s agriculture is transportation. Remember that: waiting lines that are miles long, thousands of underused trucks – from the newest and shiniest decorated with a slew of female forms to the oldest and most rickety wire-held vehicles – travelling incredible distances to reach the slaughterhouses, on dirt roads that haven’t been maintained and are dangerous to boot. In short, Brazil’s agriculture is not a threat!

And that, my friends, is how it is with American agriculture: it is led by politicians who would rather appease than provide explanations for the truth. As for the WTO? Just some harmless negotiations that will enable national markets to gain greater access to Brazilian products. But that’s fine because Americans are better looking, they’re the nicest, the richest, and the best!

Sweet dreams, my dear American farmers, all’s well…