Economy
The main sources of income are agriculture, services, light industry, and livestock raising. Dairy products, jerked beef, and pork by-products are processed in the city. In 2005 the GDP was R$1,217 billion, with 750 million generated by services, 189 million by industry, and 154 million by agriculture.
Patos is known nationally for its corn production. The "Princess of the Alto Paranaíba" as it is called, has become the national capital of corn, a fact that has attracted investors from all over the country to set up industries in agro-industry, garments, beverages, and packaging. It is also one of the most important seed producing centers in the country.
Corn is so important in the life of the town that every May Patos puts on a festival, the biggest in the state, called Fenamilho, the Festa Nacional do Milho (National Corn Festival), in which there are rodeos and performances by country and western groups.
Main crops in 2006
- Coffee: 5,700 ha.
- Cotton: 310 ha.
- Potatoes: 130 ha.
- Sugarcane: 170 ha.
- Beans: 3,000 ha.
- Manioc: 1,000 ha.
- Corn: 12,000 ha.
- Soybeans: 4,500 ha.
- Tomatoes: 446 ha.
Farm data in 2006
- Number of farms: 3,135
- Agricultural area: 232,334 ha.
- Planted area: 45,300 ha.
- Area of natural pasture: 208,109
- Persons working in agriculture: 11,400
Read more about this topic: Patos De Minas
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get “a good job,” but to perform well a certain work; and, even in a pecuniary sense, it would be economy for a town to pay its laborers so well that they would not feel that they were working for low ends, as for a livelihood merely, but for scientific, or even moral ends. Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical terms.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)