SLC Agrícola, Brazil’s largest farming company by planted area, is rolling out one of the country’s most ambitious irrigation projects, aiming to boost productivity and stabilize returns in the country’s cotton belt.
The Logemann family–controlled company plans to invest more than 900 million reais ($165 million) over the next five years to expand its irrigated farmland in western Bahia.
The project will add 37,100 hectares (91,650 acres) of irrigation capacity — bringing the company’s total to 53,200 hectares (131,500 acres) at an estimated cost of 25,000 reais ($4,585) per hectare.
In the 2025/26 crop year, SLC plans to install irrigation infrastructure across 3,300 hectares (8,150 acres).
The initiative targets one of Brazil’s most productive — yet climatically vulnerable — agricultural frontiers. Irrigation can significantly reduce weather risk in key cotton-growing regions like São Desidério and Jaborandi, according to COO Leonardo Celini.
Return on irrigation
Speaking last week at the company’s flagship Pamplona farm in Cristalina (GO), Celini told analysts and investors that irrigation could generate an additional revenue of 6,000 reais to 7,000 reais ($1,100–$1,285) per hectare per harvest. By comparison, cotton production currently costs around 11,000 reais ($2,015) per hectare.
At SLC’s irrigated farms, the benefits are already visible. In São Desidério’s Fazenda Paysandu, irrigated cotton fields yielded 360 arrobas per hectare three times more than dryland plots, which produced 120 arrobas per hectare.
Soybeans also benefit. In the same region, irrigated soybean fields reached 73.7 bags per hectare, compared to 35.2 bags under dryland conditions.
Beyond productivity, the expansion is expected to generate more stable cash flow and boost land values. SLC’s farmland portfolio is currently valued at 13.4 billion reais ($2.46 billion), based on a Deloitte appraisal.
Land appreciation has played a key role in shareholder returns. Since its IPO in 2007, the company’s original landholdings have appreciated at an average annual rate of 13.44%.
“We’ve realized our dream: generating returns as good as the best banks,” said CEO Aurélio Pavinato.
From 2020 to 2024, SLC posted an average annual return on equity of 22.9%, with 13.9 percentage points coming from land appreciation and the remainder from its core farming operations.
