EN 
PT_BR 
The eighth edition of the Tobacco Harvest Opening will be held on the afternoon of November 6th in the municipality of Vera Cruz (RS). The event will be hosted by producer Alceu Tornquist, at his property located in Linha Progresso. The decision was made during a meeting held this Tuesday, October 6th, in Porto Alegre, with representatives from the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Sustainable Production and Irrigation (Seapi), the Secretariat of Rural Development (SDR), the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union (SindiTabaco), and the Brazilian Tobacco Growers Association (Afubra).
Those participating in the meeting included the Deputy Secretary of Seapi, Antonio Carlos de Quadros Ferreira Neto, accompanied by the Director of the Department of Governance and Productive Systems, Paulo Roberto da Silva; the Deputy Secretary of SDR, Alexandre Scheifler; the president of SindiTabaco, Valmor Thesing, and the entity's technical advisor, Fernanda Viana; and, representing Afubra, the secretary Marco Antonio Dornelles and the treasurer Fabricio Murini.
For Dornelles, the Opening of the Harvest represents more than just the beginning of a new stage of the harvest. “It’s a moment to value those who are at the base of this entire chain: the tobacco producer and their family. Thousands of families work, invest, face the challenges of the climate and the market, and generate income, jobs, and development for their municipalities. Holding the Opening of the Harvest on a rural property also helps to show this reality and reinforces the importance of continuing to defend and value the producer, so that they have the conditions to remain in the countryside and be justly recognized for their work,” he emphasizes.
For Valmor Thesing, president of SindiTabaco, more than marking the beginning of the harvest, this moment reinforces the importance of the integrated system, which has the partnership between producers and companies as one of its main pillars. "It is this relationship, built over decades, with planning, technical assistance, knowledge transfer, and security for both parties, that contributes to the quality and sustainability of tobacco production," emphasizes Thesing.
BACKGROUND – The Tobacco Harvest Opening has been part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul's event calendar since 2017, when the event was held in Venâncio Aires. Since then, it has been held in Canguçu (2018), Arroio do Tigre (2019), Vale do Sol (2021), São Lourenço do Sul (2022), Rio Pardo (2024), and Santa Cruz do Sul (2025), always with the aim of valuing tobacco producers and the sector's relevance to the Rio Grande do Sul economy. Organized by SEAPI and SDR, in partnership with Afubra and SindiTabaco, the ceremony brings together rural producers, leaders, representatives of sector entities, authorities, and the press.
Rio Grande do Sul: the largest tobacco producer in Brazil.
In the 2025/2026 harvest, tobacco production in the Southern Region of the country reached 710,000 tons, according to Afubra. Rio Grande do Sul accounted for 40% of the production, with 287,000 tons produced and the involvement of 265,000 people in rural areas across 205 municipalities.
* As a collaboration with Afubra.
