AbstractsEconomics

São Paulo, although Brazil's greatest industrial area, is also one of the country's largest agricultural producers. Its past tradition of monoculture is now giving way to a more diversified economy, cotton becoming the State's (and Brazil's) second largest export crop. São Paulo is well suited for growing cotton although the clay soils of the State tend to erode very rapidly, especially when cultivated to a clean-culture crop such as cotton. This tendency has resulted in a steady shift of cotton and other agricultural production in the State, moving from the old zones of the east to newer, more fertile soils in the west. [TRUNCATED]