Brazil feeling the result of climate change.

Climate change is having an impact on Brazil's vast agricultural sector and the government is planning for, "a dramatic geographical reorganization of the country's agricultural production." Recent studies have shown that farming practices are being revised due to rising temperatures and disruptions in normal rainfall patterns.

A report filed on the Inter Press Service news wire on June 2, 2007 said, "Excessive heat in the southern hemisphere summer will likely push production of crops like rice, beans, maize and soy toward Brazil's central-western region." Traditional coffee production is also likely to be affected.

Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture is set to announce zoning restrictions on certain crops in one of the country's southern states for the 2007-2008 season. IPS says, though, that the restrictions are portrayed as due to normal cyclical changes.

Brazil's farmers are also being encouraged to practice "direct planting," a technique that does not disturb the topsoil and absorbs large amounts of carbon.

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