Brazil is a tropical country whose different regions do not possess extreme climatic variations and allow excellent environmental conditions for the production of grain, vegetable, fruits, forage and woody crops of tropical and temperate origin.

   The country is one of the largest producers of the most important crops in the world and contributes to a significant percentage of the world’s total agricultural production. The average productivity of major crops is similar to or greater than the world average and continues to increase. The contribution of the whole chain of agribusiness to the gross domestic product (GDP) has recently been about 26% to 32%, but it can still be higher.

   The Brazilian seed industry is well developed and, until the middle 1990s, both national and international companies were active and competitive. More recently,  there has been a significant increase in mergers of some national companies by international seed companies.

   The certification system is required by Brazilian seed legislation. The infrastructure of the Brazilian seed industry is composed of 770 processing plants, 1,120 storage units, 276 seed testing laboratories, and 52 laboratories qualified to conduct GMO analyses; more than 35,000 farmers produce seeds of different crops by contract.

   The Brazilian seed market has a potential demand of 2,800 t in 2006. It is substantial and consists primarily of grain, vegetable and tropical forage crops at a value of approximately US$ 2 billion and represents 7.5% of the world seed market.