The importance of infrastructure

It's obvious that it isn't enough to have a good agricultural harvest -- you have to be able to get it to market to reap the value. Each year at this time in Brazil the soybean harvest kicks in and trucks begin hauling the beans to ports to ship to the world market. Lines like that at right (click to enlarge) leading to Paranaguá, a port in the southern state of Paranáare, are often as long as 50 miles and the wait in line can be as long at 20 days.

Brazil's ascendancy on the global stage has also exposed deep fault lines at home. Like Paranaguá, almost all of the country's ports are struggling to accommodate the growing flow of goods. With some rare exceptions in more developed states like São Paulo, roads everywhere are worn and riddled with potholes, making the journey from the farm belt to the coast costly and slow. In addition, Brazil's railway network has barely expanded since 1970, when it transported only 50 million tons of cargo a year. This year, some 300 million tons of goods are expected to be shipped by train.

Read the whole article on the importance of infrastructure.