AgricultureID

State · BR-MT

Mato Grosso

A tropical savanna (Cerrado) climate with a hot, wet summer (roughly October–April) and a pronounced dry winter; the northern fringe grades toward the more consistently humid southern Amazon.

Major crop systems

  • Large-scale rainfed soybean sown at the onset of the summer rains
  • Second-crop ("safrinha") maize planted immediately after the soybean harvest within the same season
  • Cotton, frequently as a second crop following soybean, on the eastern and southeastern plateaus
  • Expanding sugarcane and off-season sorghum in rotation

Major livestock systems

  • Extensive and semi-intensive beef cattle on Cerrado and cleared pastures — one of the largest cattle herds of any Brazilian state
  • Integrated crop–livestock–forest (ILPF) systems that rotate pasture with grain

Agricultural land: The state is Brazil's largest grain producer, built on the mechanised conversion of flat, acidic Cerrado tableways (chapadões) into large-scale rainfed farms after lime and phosphate correction. Irrigation: Production is overwhelmingly rainfed within the summer wet season; supplemental centre-pivot irrigation is localised, used mainly to extend second-crop and specialty cropping.

Agroecological zones: Aw (Tropical savanna (dry winter)), Am (Tropical monsoon)

Documented crops & livestock

Official institutions

  • Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) — National statistical institute; agricultural census and municipal crop and livestock surveys.
  • Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento (CONAB) — Federal crop-supply agency; official grain and fibre production and harvest surveys.
  • Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa) — Federal agricultural research corporation; Embrapa Agrossilvipastoril (Sinop) leads Cerrado and integrated-systems research in the state.
  • Instituto Mato-grossense de Economia Agropecuária (IMEA) — State-level farm-economics institute publishing regional planting, yield and cost surveys.

Data coverage & limitations

Descriptive profile; subnational statistics for Mato Grosso are published by IBGE, CONAB, Embrapa and IMEA and are not reproduced numerically here.

  • Boundaries and administrative classifications follow the official ISO 3166-2 code BR-MT.
  • Any production statistics are dated, source-specific and periodically revised; read them with their year and dataset version.
  • A single state spans frontier expansion and established mechanised farming; land-use change is a significant environmental consideration.

Sources

This article draws on the following authoritative sources. See our sources & methodology for how they are selected.

  1. [1]Embrapa — Brazilian agricultural research corporation (opens in a new tab)

    Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa)

    High

    Cited for: Cerrado and tropical cropping-systems agronomy

    Type:
    Research institute
    Jurisdiction:
    Brazil
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12
  2. [2]FAOSTAT — FAO statistical database (opens in a new tab)

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Authoritative

    Cited for: National production and yield context

    Type:
    Intergovernmental organization
    Jurisdiction:
    Global
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12