São Paulo a land of high-end milk and honey for cattle farmers

Brazilians consumed an average of 124 liters of cow’s milk in 2019, making the country the fourth-biggest milk-drinkers in the world. And it is a growing sector, with production and consumption increasing by 139 and 131 percent, respectively, between 1990 and 2019. Indeed, production grew at 1.5 times the rate of the Brazilian economy throughout the same period, and it is one of the 13 products that makes up the country’s basic basket of necessities.

While the market for Brazilian dairy products was largely rudimentary throughout the vast majority of the country’s history, the sector has come on leaps and bounds in the last three decades, thanks in part to research and technological modernization.

More recently, the biggest development in Brazil’s dairy market has been the increased investment in so-called ‘A2 milk.’ Regarded as easier to digest and sold at almost three times the price of traditional A1 variety, the difference between the varieties lies in the presence of beta-casein proteins — or, more specifically, the form of beta-casein proteins each type contains.

Traditional A1 milk comes from cows...