I have just returned from a two-week farm tour of Brazil. I first visited the country in 2006 and the transformation in terms of productivity gains in the last 10 years has been truly phenomenal. Yes, questions remain over production standards when we look at them through a European lens, but the same questions could be raised in relation to equivalence of standards in other agricultural superpowers, such as the US and Australia.

While there is no doubt that Brazil still looks to Europe as a trophy destination for its high-value beef steak cuts, the reality is that their ultimate focus has been on dominating global markets in commodities such as coffee, oranges, soya, cotton, sugar and ethanol. This is where the major technological advances have been most evident and to a much greater extent than in the beef sector, where the focus remains on volume markets such as Russia, China and, most recently, the potential in the US.

Over the past 10 years, the main cropping sectors in Brazil have all recorded double-digit growth. It has not only been driven by yield gains and increased cropping area but also the advancement of zero till and soil science technologies – technologies that are allowing farmers to now grow three crops in one year.

Land that was grazing 0.25lu/ha 10 years ago is now producing a 3.5t crop of soya beans, a 7t crop of corn followed a two- to three-month grass cover crop – all in the space of one year. The output value from this crop rotation is typically over €2,000/ha.

With such advances, it is little wonder that land values in many of the main agricultural production regions have doubled every two years for the last 10 consecutive years – with good cropping land now valued at $7,000/ha (€6,500/ha).

It is a far cry from what we have seen in Europe over the same period. Agricultural land prices here are lower today than 10 years ago in real terms. At the same time, we have seen practically zero productivity gains across all the main agricultural land-use sectors – and a serious erosion in farm margins.

The impact of low margins and an uncertain economic future on the very basics of productive farming was evident in last week’s Irish Farmers Journal where the collapse in the use of lime was highlighted. While last week’s edition was going to print, I was visiting a Brazilian farm where the owner was attributing the transformation of unproductive pastures into top-quality arable land to the fact that he had applied the equivalent of 15t/ha of lime over the past 10 years, moving soils from a natural pH of 4 to 6.8. The investment was aided by a government-led scheme with an annual budget of $60bn to help farmers fund inputs.

We don’t have to look too hard to see why productivity gains have gone in different directions in Brazil and the EU. The adoption of new technologies in Brazil is being fuelled by return on investment and profitability. On the most productive farms, net profit often exceeds the equivalent of €300-€750/ha. This is in an economy where a farm labourer can live comfortably on an income equivalent to €150-€200 per week. Another factor that should not be overlooked is the Brazilian government’s support for productive agriculture. Indeed, there is a lack of tolerance towards unproductive farms which manifests itself in an unproductive land tax.

Clearly, the landscape could not be more different in Europe. Even with the inclusion of CAP payments, the income-generating potential of the best agricultural land in the EU relative to the economic landscape bears no resemblance to Brazil. Meanwhile, the policy from Brussels is one of cutting support to productive farmers in order to reward landowners. On top of this, we are seeing reduced access to existing technologies, further barriers to accessing new technologies and regulations that further drive up on-farm production costs without adding value. The slurry ban preventing farmers from spreading on what for many has been the driest two-week period of the year is just one example of flawed regulations.

Ultimately, it is decision time on where we want EU agriculture to go over the next 10 to 20 years. Allowing the trend of the past 10 years to continue will undoubtedly severely undermine the food production base in the EU. To change will require a vision as to what we want EU agriculture to look like in 10, 15 and 20 years’ time. For Brazil, this vision is clear: moving from producing 7% of the world’s food to 12% by 2025.

It is this type of hard detail that the EU requires and not the normal aspirational commentary we are used to seeing. Detail is needed around key targets such as the percentage productivity gains across the main sectors, the level of income-generating potential from efficient farming systems and the percentage of retail price passed back to farmers. When these and other targets have been achieved, then the vision should form the foundation of future EU policy across both agriculture and trade commissions.

We are fortunate to have a strong commissioner for agriculture in place in Phil Hogan with a sound understanding of the sector to take on this tough but necessary challenge. Alternatively, we can carry on as we are with productive farmers continuing to effectively sweat their assets to try to carve out a profit margin. However, we should be in no doubt where EU agriculture will end up on the global map: as a museum of modern agriculture, albeit with the highest production standards in the world.