Brazil’s powerful agribusiness sector delivered a record US$87 billion in exports in the first half of 2026, a 6.2% increase year-on-year, but the historic number masks a deepening financial strain on the rural producers who made it possible. Driven largely by a surge in soybean shipments, the new revenue peak confirms Brazil's status as a global food powerhouse, yet local farmers are caught in a "perfect storm" of high input costs and punishing domestic interest rates that are squeezing profit margins to their lowest point in years.