For decades, the pursuit of autonomy has served as the “basic project” guiding Brazil’s behavior in the international system. This quest is fundamentally a desire for greater agency, defined as the capacity to define national interests and make choices that shield the country from the structural constraints of a hierarchical world. The emergence of Brazil as a global agricultural powerhouse in the twenty-first century profoundly reshaped both its domestic political economy and its international diplomatic profile. Brazil transitioned from a defensive posture in international forums to an assertive player, leveraging its vast productive capacity to pursue ambitious goals related to trade liberalization and global food security. This chapter will explore the evolution of Brazil’s agricultural exports, its multilateral trade engagement, its global anti-hunger initiatives, and its contemporary role in order to shed light on the nature of Brazil’s complex agency in global food and agriculture.
