Green for health, gold for money, white for peace. Plenty of Brazilians go out on New Year's Eve wearing colors to reflect what they most desire from the coming twelve months. My guess is that Brazil's farmers have been wearing lots of orange over the past years—orange for highway construction cones and pavement workers' vests.

Brazil sees long term infrastructure progress despite short-term El Nina woes. (Thinkstock/casadaphoto)

Looking back
Sure there were plenty of those producers with hopes about rainfall—more of it or a bit less of it over the coming 60 days—but trust me: There were lots who looked back at the long term infrastructure progress the country has made, and just hope for more of it. After all, they know they're getting by on beans right now because the Brazilian currency continually drops against the dollar. But that's likely a short-term plus.

In the long term, anything that helps get Brazil's cheap beans to China more cheaply is a win. And it's a win no matter the vagaries of the weather or the exchange rate.

The Northern Arc
And according to the year-end news in Brazil, a good deal of progress has been made in that direction. Brazilian corn and soy exports through northern ports for the first 10 months of 2015 were 51% greater than those for the same period of 2014, according to the government. And the total amount of corn and beans reaching world markets through ports along the Amazon, its tributaries and ports along Brazil's northern coast is slated to reach 25.5 million tonnes this year. That's up from an estimated 12 million tonnes in 2014.

The Brazilian government says the country will produce a total of 102.5 million tonnes of soybeans, shipping 72 million of those tonnes overseas. And Brazil will produce 72 million tonnes of corn, exporting 30 million.

It's no wonder retailers may have found themselves out of orange clothing around the end of the year. Orange is the new gold for Brazilian farmers.