Savannah Shrimp: far from the sea, Brazil’s Cerrado is producing prawns

Where once it was seen as an infertile wasteland, the Brazilian Cerrado — the vast tropical savannah spreading across the center of South America — became the biggest source of grains in the country, helping turn agribusiness into the driving force of the domestic economy. As we have shown in previous articles, the tiny Federal District, home to capital city Brasília, has some of the highest agricultural productivity rates in Brazil, and potentially the entire world. Farmers have begun planting specialty coffee and grapes for winemaking in a region that was, until the 1970s, almost completely unused, with locals believing nothing could grow there.

However, one family of agricultural producers from the surrounding state of Goiás has gone one better, investing in freshwater shrimp farming. The results have been so promising that the government plans to expand this experimental project to other cities in the Central-Western state.

Entitled Camarão do Cerrado, freely translated as ‘Savannah Shrimp,’ the project began a year and a half ago, when a husband and wife farming team from the city of Águas Lindas took a course in aquaculture, sparking an interest in farming...