But in the great grain growing areas, by and large, it's just left to rot, or sometimes even burned in the fields.
High interest rates and taxes and a strong real have held back growth, especially in the more prosperous south and the grain-growing centre-west.
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Desert areas are expanding by 3, 000 square miles each year and farmers are being paid to plant trees to halt this advance, thus further reducing the grain-growing area.
Chile has not undergone the job-destroying switch from traditional farming to the highly mechanised prairie grain-growing that is typical of the United States or, more recently, parts of Europe.
Filburn, upheld a Roosevelt-era law limiting grain production to prop up prices even when the farmer in question was growing grain entirely for his own consumption.
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Hope is considering growing grain on 8, 000 hectares of wasteland in Xinjiang, as well as similar ventures in Inner Mongolia.
Many food executives had hoped that southern hemisphere farmers would try to cash in on high grain prices by growing bigger crops over the next several months, but weather problems are plaguing growers in several countries.
"Given that global and U.S. grain inventories remain very tight, grain prices will continue to reflect growing conditions and yield potential for both U.S. and global crop production, " Agrium said, citing a June report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which anticipates global grain and oilseed stockpiles to scrape 35-year lows through 2009.
They have built sales organisations around the world to make the most of the abundant resources for producing pork, poultry and grain in Brazil, complemented by ideal growing conditions and low labour costs.
Some brands are being transplanted into adjacent markets: the new Hovis Breakfast Bake is a whole-grain biscuit that Premier hopes will take some of the growing market for on-the-go breakfasts.
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Mike Norman, editor of the Economic Contrarian Update, usually holds against-the-grain opinions, although his latest comments seem to echo a growing consensus: the bull market for homebuilders is over.
Despite a growing tide of "evidence" (a term used with a hearty grain of salt here), not all tech observers are convinced.
The country should import more grain in order to raise more livestock, and devote its own land to the more profitable business of growing cash crops for export.
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